The AI wars are driving a more demanding work culture in Silicon Valley that some insiders worry is burning workers out.
A “996” work schedule, in which employees work six days a week from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., has been well established in China and is taking hold in the San Francisco tech scene. While Silicon Valley has long been known for an intense work culture, some companies have recently adopted the more rigid 996 work schedule.
Nathan Lambert, a senior research scientist at the Allen Institute for AI, and Sebastian Raschka, an AI research lab founder, joined podcaster Lex Fridman in a recent episode about artificial intelligence. When asked about 996 culture in Silicon Valley, Raschka said what he’s seen is not exactly the same as in China, but it’s trending that way.
The current landscape of the tech industry consists of AI models leapfrogging each other to try to stay ahead of their competitors. For startups, the pressure to make it big can lead to grueling work schedules for employees.
“It’s really hard because you have to deliver constantly,” Raschka said.
Raschka said both passion and competition are driving the grind mindset in Silicon Valley. He got a taste of this work culture while working as an academic in AI. He said he wasn’t forced to overwork; he chose to.
Lambert said this mindset is showing up in some of the most recognizable companies in San Francisco and the AI industry.
“That’s what OpenAI and Anthropic are like,” he said, saying that employees commit to the high-pressure culture because they want to do the work, particularly the programmers.
OpenAI and Anthropic did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
Still, Lambert said that the environment can come at a “human expense,” including lost time with family, closed-mindedness toward the rest of the world, and, sometimes, health issues.
“You can only do this for so long, and people are definitely burning out,” he said.
For Raschka, the toll was back and neck pain from skipping breaks that he said he should’ve taken.
It’s an environment that young programmers may have to brave if they want to make their mark in AI.
“If you’re really passionate about wanting to have an impact in AI, being physically in SF is the most likely place where you’re going to do this,” Lambert said. “But it has trade-offs.”
