Tech leaders promise AI will mean less work, their own staff say they're logging 90 hour weeks

[Terry]

The BBC has a pointed piece highlighting a real disconnect between how tech leaders publicly talk about AI shrinking the workweek and what employees inside those same companies are actually experiencing on the ground, workers told the BBC that sprints at OpenAI and Anthropic can stretch on for many weeks and top 90 hours in a single seven day period, neither company responded to the BBCs requests for comment on those claims

At Meta specifically, workers described being abruptly pushed onto AI focused teams treated as urgent this year, calling it being drafted since they werent given a real choice, one former employee put it bluntly, saying they just move you over, you cant say no or if you do you have to quit, though Meta reportedly has since begun walking back that strict take it or leave it approach, by which point many staff had already been shifted onto that work, hours on these teams were described as often stretching into nights and weekends, with people feeling effectively on call even during hours they werent actively working

A former OpenAI employee told the BBC they regularly worked at least 70 hours a week, considerably more than in any previous tech role, theyve since moved to an AI focused startup where work life balance improved to something closer to 50 to 60 hours a week outside of sprint periods, tech jobs historically werent built around this kind of intensity, for years the sector was known for a fairly standard 9 to 5 office rhythm compared to industries like investment banking, law or medicine that have long normalized longer hours

The genuinely striking contrast the piece draws out is against the public messaging from executives, tech leaders have spent the past couple of years publicly floating the idea that AI would eventually shrink the workweek, JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon has talked about a future 3.5 day week, Nvidia's Jensen Huang has said AI will probably make a four day week possible, and Bill Gates has mused about needing to work only two or three days once AI can handle most tasks, but inside the companies actually building that same technology, the lived reality for a lot of workers is closer to the opposite

The piece situates this within the broader 996 or hustle culture debate thats resurfaced across the industry, companies like New York based Rilla openly advertise roughly 70 hour weeks in their own job listings, framing intensity as a badge of ambition rather than something to hide, and the underlying tension the BBC draws out is genuinely simple, the same executives promising AI will eventually free up peoples time are, in the current moment, demanding more hours than ever from the people actually building it

Tech leaders say AI means less work - their staff say they work up to 90 hours a weekwww.bbc.co.uk

[Tracey99]

Neither OpenAI nor Anthropic responding to the BBC's request for comment says a lot on its own, if the 90 hour claims were seriously overstated youd expect at least a firm denial rather than silence

[HiggsField]

The being drafted language from Meta workers is such a telling detail, take it or leave it framed as a choice when the actual alternative offered is quitting isnt really a choice at all in any meaningful sense

[Laura94]

This is the clearest possible gap between public messaging and internal reality I've seen on this topic, executives promising a 3.5 day week in interviews while their own teams pull 90 hour sprints undercuts that messaging pretty completely

[Reece_75]

Sprint culture stretching on for many weeks rather than being a short intense burst followed by recovery time is the part that should worry people most, the whole point of a sprint is that its temporary, if it just becomes the permanent baseline that word stops meaning anything

[Plateau70]

Executives talking about AI freeing up leisure time while simultaneously running their own companies on 90 hour crunch cycles is either genuine cognitive dissonance or a signal that the promised future workweek reduction is meant for everyone except the people actually building the technology first

[AntMan]

70 hours a week being described as an improvement once someone moved to 50 to 60 hours at a different AI startup really puts into perspective just how normalized extreme hours have become across this specific corner of the industry

[Liam98]

The shift from a fairly standard 9 to 5 tech culture to something resembling investment banking or law hours is a significant cultural change that happened remarkably fast, within just a couple of years of the current AI race intensifying

[Dom]

This whole piece is a good reminder to treat public statements from tech CEOs about AI's future benefits with real skepticism until you see what's actually happening to the people working inside those same companies right now

[GrimUpNorth53]

On call even during hours they arent working is a phrase that captures something a lot of high pressure tech jobs have quietly normalized, the psychological toll of never truly being off duty is arguably worse than the raw hour count itself

[error.404]

Rilla advertising roughly 70 hour weeks openly in job listings is at least honest compared to companies that quietly demand the same hours without ever disclosing it upfront, though honest and healthy are clearly two very different things