Tech leaders say AI means less work - their staff say they work up to 90 hours a week
An engineering director at Google said four years ago that AI would deliver a four-day work week by 2025. Earlier this year, and just one year after that engineering director's prediction, OpenAI took up the challenge, in a manner of speaking. It formally urged companies…
Earlier this year, and just one year after that engineering director's prediction, OpenAI took up the challenge, in a manner of speaking. It formally urged companies to start testing out a four-day work week (with no change in pay), claiming that AI will soon.
However, a former OpenAI technical employee who left the company last year told the BBC the firm never actually trialled the four-day work week it suggested others should try while they were there. Instead, the person described what was often a gruelling work culture.
What Happened
Other companies have also pushed the idea that AI will effectively reduce the number of hours people need to work, for better or worse. Anthropic has boasted that its popular coding tool and chatbot Claude is capable of working on its own.
An engineering director at Google said four years ago that AI would deliver a four-day work week by 2025.
Some new research suggests that AI tools are making people's workloads even more burdensome.
He said he's realised that heavy reliance on AI tools in large tech companies "creates a bad culture with excess pressure on engineers".
Key Details
While Meta has since laid off 1 in 10 of its employees, Anthropic's chief executive Dario Amodei has warned that as AI tools inevitably become more productive, it could mean even broader job losses. Despite these claims, workers inside these same tech.
Since leaving Google, Shali told the BBC that his sleep and overall health had improved.
This was happening more frequently as Google moved crucial resources like processing units and memory storage over to AI projects.
A former Google employee, Amin Shali, left the company in May due to the ways in which he claimed AI was negatively impacting his job, like having to often work all hours of the.
Why It Matters
US tech workers are typically well-compensated, and while other industries such as investment banking, law and medicine also often see people work long hours, a 14-hour workday was not always the norm in tech. For years, it was a more typical 9-5.
Even tech workers who are not directly involved in the development of AI tools are facing longer hours due to the technology.
Meta's current AI projects include the creation of an AI tool that can be used for software engineering and other kinds of work, and building AI model infrastructure that can measure an AI model's.
What Reports Say
Coverage of the story so far points to:
Continued reporting by BBC as more details emerge
