The Algorithmic Assemblage: Artificial Intelligence, Real Subsumption, and Labor Contestation in the Global Fashion Supply Chain

Abstract

This paper critically examines the penetration of artificial intelligence (AI) in China’s fashion supply chains through the dimensions of culture, labor, and ethics. It argues that AI integration is not merely technical but a socio-technical process reshaping capital–labor relations. Culturally, AI redefines “Made in China” from cheap labor to algorithm-driven intelligent production, aligning with national upgrading narratives. At the factory level, AI-enabled “small-order, quick-response” models, typified by ultra-fast fashion, create a new “Digital Taylorism” that digitizes market pressure, intensifies labor, and extends working hours. Yet workers adapt and resist through daily strategies, revealing agency within constraint. Ethically, brands employ AI-driven transparency discourses as “performative ethics,” masking structural contradictions and labor rights violations. The study concludes that ethical reflection must move beyond corporate-led initiatives, scrutinize algorithmic power in production, and advocate co-governance frameworks with worker representation in technology design and oversight.