Viola Zhou

@violazhouyi

reporter @restofworld covering tech and humans. formerly @viceworldnews @scmpnews. 📧 viola@restofworld.org.

New York violazhou.com Joined November 2012

2.9K Following 16K Followers 2K Posts

Latest posts 5

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Viola Zhou @violazhouyi Sep 2, 2025

Not long after DeepSeek R1 launched, I discovered that my mother had started using the chatbot as her virtual doctor.

I worried about her reliance on AI. But over time, I realized Dr. DeepSeek was offering something no human in her life could.
restofworld.org/2025/ai-chatbo…

restofworld.org My mom and Dr. DeepSeek In China and around the world, the sick and lonely turn to AI.

Viola Zhou @violazhouyi Oct 28

reminded that we live in a society that demands we perform and deliver no matter what.

and in all these stories AI was sadly the only thing available that actually listens to someone’s problems and (pretends to) think what’s best for them.

Viola Zhou @violazhouyi Oct 28

Heartbreaking story of a Chinese immigrant engineer, who, after getting laid off from Amazon, reduced epilepsy medication on ChatGPT’s advice so she could perform better at job interviews and apply for a green card. She died because of all these.

nytimes.com/2026/10/27/wel…
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Viola Zhou @violazhouyi Oct 28

Heartbreaking story of a Chinese immigrant engineer, who, after getting laid off from Amazon, reduced epilepsy medication on ChatGPT’s advice so she could perform better at job interviews and apply for a green card. She died because of all these.

nytimes.com/2026/10/27/wel…

www.nytimes.com She Trusted ChatGPT With Her Medication Decisions. It Cost Her Everything. The chatbot helped a woman taper off a lifesaving drug and hide the plan from her doctors.

Viola Zhou @violazhouyi Sep 9

NEW: A Chinese architect saw her income halve because of a drop in state infrastructure projects. So she became an AI trainer.

Like in the US, more Chinese professionals are taking up data gigs in a tough job market, passing their expertise to AI.

restofworld.org/2026/china-exp…

restofworld.org Now it’s China’s experts who are gig workers training AI Squeezed by a stagnant economy and state directives, China's underemployed lawyers, architects, and engineers are taking cheap gig work to teach AI their exact trades — just to pay this month's...

Viola Zhou @violazhouyi Jun 23

Chinese models are appealing to American developers looking for more cost-efficient AI.

“I don’t mind Chinese [companies] looking at my data: Hey, have fun with it. Learn and get better,” says a Dallas developer who codes with Minimax and MiMo.
restofworld.org/2026/when-amer…

restofworld.org When Americans choose Chinese AI Developers say DeepSeek is good enough for a fraction of the cost. “You don’t need God to write your email.”