AI Disruption in China — A Lesson for All of Us

I stumbled upon an interesting TikTok video after returning home from Saturday Mass. The speaker is a Singaporean who had just returned from about three weeks in China.

During his trip, he met business people, visited companies and saw firsthand how quickly AI is changing the business environment.

What he brought back was not simply a story about technology.

It was a story about disruption — and opportunity.

According to his observations, AI is already affecting many parts of life and work in China. The impact reaches from clerical and office jobs to industrial and manufacturing work. Some jobs have been displaced, and for the people affected, this can be painful and unsettling.

But what struck me most was how people are responding.

Rather than pretending the disruption isn't happening, many Chinese people are facing it directly. They know AI is part of the future, so there is a strong push to learn and understand it.

In other words:

If AI is coming, learn how to use it.

I found that attitude particularly interesting.

The Singaporean speaker believes that what he saw in China could eventually happen more widely in Singapore, Malaysia and other ASEAN countries. His purpose in sharing his experience was to let people in the region understand both sides of the story — the disruption that AI can cause and the opportunities it can create.

I think that is an important message for all of us.

We often talk about AI as something exciting: ChatGPT, image generation, automation, robots and new businesses.

But there is another side.

AI can also change the way people earn a living.

Some tasks will disappear. Some jobs will change. New jobs and new opportunities will emerge. And people who learn to work with AI may find themselves in a better position than those who simply ignore it.

This doesn't mean everyone has to become a technology expert.

Far from it.

At 80+, I'm certainly not trying to become an AI engineer. I'm simply learning how AI can help me write, research, organize my thoughts and continue doing things that interest me.

That is why I started AI123.ca.

My approach is quite simple:

Exploring → Learning → Documenting.

Perhaps that is also the lesson we can take from what is happening in China.

We may not be able to stop technological change. We may not even know exactly where AI will take us.

But we can prepare ourselves.

Learn a little.

Experiment a little.

Ask questions.

And keep an open mind.

The Chinese experience described by this Singaporean speaker may be a warning about the disruption ahead. But I also see something positive in it.

When disruption arrives, learning can become a form of preparation.

Whether you live in China, Singapore, Malaysia, Canada or somewhere else, that is a lesson worth thinking about.

At 80, I don't expect to outrun AI.

But I can keep learning.

And perhaps that is the best way to move forward.

This reflection is based on a TikTok video by a Singaporean speaker who had recently returned from a three-week visit to China, where he met business people and companies and observed the impact of AI. The views about China's experience and its possible relevance to Singapore, Malaysia and ASEAN are his perspective, followed by my own reflections.

AI123.ca — Exploring → Learning → Documenting

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Claude + Pictory: Turning Your Words into Videos

 I received an interesting update from Pictory today, and I thought it was worth sharing with AI123.ca readers.

Pictory has introduced a new MCP Connector that allows Claude to work with Pictory directly from a conversation.

In simple terms, you can tell Claude what kind of video you want to make, and Claude can work with Pictory to turn your idea, script, blog post, or article into a video.

That caught my attention.

From a blog post to a video

Imagine you have written a blog post but would also like to reach people who prefer watching rather than reading.

Instead of starting from scratch with a video editor, you can give your article or script to Claude and ask it to create a video using Pictory.

According to Pictory, the process can include:

• Visuals for the scenes

• Narration

• Background music

• Subtitles

• Text and scene adjustments

• Your own Brand Kit

You can then preview the video, make changes to individual scenes, and render the finished version when you are satisfied.

For a blogger like me, this is an interesting development.

What is an MCP Connector?

Don't let the technical name scare you.

MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. It is a way for an AI assistant such as Claude to connect with another service and work with it.

For the ordinary user, the important part is much simpler:

Claude can now communicate with Pictory to help create a video.

That is the part I care about—not the technical terminology.

How the connection works

Pictory says users can connect the service to Claude through Claude's Settings → Connectors.

The basic process is:

1. Open Claude and go to Settings → Connectors.

2. Choose Add → Add custom connector.

3. Name the connector Pictory.

4. Enter Pictory's MCP server address.

5. Continue through the connection process.

6. Sign in to your Pictory account.

7. Start a conversation with Claude and ask it to create a video with Pictory.

Once connected, the idea is that the conversation with Claude becomes the starting point for creating the video.

Why I find this interesting

I am an 80+ learner, not a professional video producer.

That is precisely why developments like this interest me.

AI is gradually removing some of the technical barriers that used to make video creation difficult for ordinary people.

A few years ago, the thought of taking a written article and turning it into a reasonably polished video might have meant learning video-editing software, finding images, recording narration, adding subtitles and putting everything together.

Now, much of that work can potentially be handled through AI-assisted tools.

Of course, AI does not automatically make every video good. We still need to provide a worthwhile idea, check the information, review the visuals and make sure the final result sounds like something we actually want to say.

But the tools are becoming easier.

A possible use for AI123.ca

I can imagine using this technology for some of my own AI123.ca articles.

For example, an article from my AI Learning for Seniors series could potentially become a short video.

The blog post remains for readers who enjoy reading.

The video becomes another doorway for people who prefer watching and listening.

That is one thing I have learned during my AI journey:

Don't try to make everybody use AI in the same way. Give people different doors into the same information.

For seniors especially, a simple conversation with an AI assistant may feel much less intimidating than opening complicated video-editing software.

My takeaway

Claude and Pictory working together is another small example of where AI is heading.

The interesting part isn't simply that AI can make a video.

The bigger story is that different AI tools are beginning to work together.

For an ordinary blogger, learner or small content creator, that could eventually mean less time fighting with software—and more time thinking about what we actually want to communicate.

That's a direction I like.

I'll be watching this one.

Exploring → Learning → Documenting.

That's still my journey with AI.

#AI123 #ArtificialIntelligence #ClaudeAI #Pictory #MCP #AIVideo #AIForSeniors #ContentCreation #BloggingWithAI #LearningAI