AI Leaders Promote Four-Day Workweek While Employees Face 90-Hour Weeks

Reports reveal a stark contrast between tech executives publicly promoting AI-enabled four-day workweeks and the grueling reality for AI developers at companies like OpenAI and Meta, who face up to 90-hour workweeks. Employees report intense pressure, mandatory weekend shifts, and forced transfers to high-priority AI projects. This highlights a growing paradox where AI, instead of reducing workloads, increases them due to the need for constant monitoring, system maintenance, and the relentless race to release new models. It exposes the toxic work culture and high burnout rates behind the rapid advancement of generative AI. Former employees from OpenAI and Google noted that "sprints" before product launches often stretch into long-term overwork, with some working over 90 hours a week. Additionally, research from UC Berkeley indicates that AI tools actually expand employee workloads because workers must spend significant time verifying AI-generated outputs.