AI will make some jobs unnecessary. And in doing so, many Chinese employees expect the same to happen in the work of their colleagues. So that our jobs are safe. It appears that the company is training an AI system that can perform the tasks of colleagues in order to ensure that companies are prepared to use AI to reduce staff. It’s strange, almost like an episode of Black Mirror, but it seems to be a trend, and some of the AI training files that are part of that trend are currently circulating on Github, a platform for developers.
If you’ve been following the growing conversation about AI and jobs on social media, you may have come across the term “skills distillation.” Simply put, it refers to breaking down the way people work, processes, decisions, and methods into clear, structured steps that AI systems can learn and replicate. In effect, this is about training AI to act more like humans, which could eventually take over some of its roles.
Distillation of skills is growing in China. According to the report, many companies are asking employees to document their work in detail, from workflow and decision-making to internal communications. While this is framed as a way to improve efficiency and knowledge sharing, the same data can also be used to train AI systems.
But employees are starting to recognize this pattern. result? Some people are now using AI systems for their own benefit and, in some cases, against their colleagues.
A tool called “colleague.skill” is rapidly spreading on GitHub. Users can analyze how their employees work by mapping their digital footprint, such as chats, documents, and emails, and turning that data into AI agents that mimic their workflows.
Workers in China are reportedly using colleague.skill to keep track of exactly how their co-workers are doing their jobs. They transform their colleagues’ daily tasks into simple digital guides that AI can follow, making those roles easier to automate. The aim seems to be to make people more valuable and secure in their own roles while replacing their colleagues with AI.
There is also a counterattack
In response to “colleague.skill,” a female Chinese developer has reportedly created a counter-tool called “anti-distillation.skill.” In a viral video, the blogger shows how the tool helps protect employee expertise from being harvested by AI.
The tool essentially rewrites an employee’s standard work document, blurring or omitting the most important details while keeping the document clear and professional for human readers. These are typically the parts that an AI system relies on to learn how someone does a job.
As a result, the content appears complete on the surface, but is not very useful for training an AI. In some cases, tools add ambiguous or common language that makes it difficult for AI to understand patterns. You can also give users control over how much information they hide, depending on how discreet they want to be.
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