‘996’ work culture takes hold among SF AI startups

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — Want to work at one of those hot, new AI startups? Be prepared to kiss your social life goodbye. Artificial intelligence startups, many of which are based in San Francisco, are becoming increasingly enamored with the “996” work culture — working from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m., six days a week.

That’s according to a new report in The Washington Post. The “996” work schedule, which translates to a 72-hour work week, was first popularized in China. However, in San Francisco, it’s becoming the norm in the competitive world of AI startups.

Grinding long hours is nothing new in the Silicon Valley tech startup world. But in AI, more and more companies are being open about expectations and the grueling hours are becoming more of a nonnegotiable.

Last summer, when AI startup Windsurf was acquired by fellow AI coding startup, Cognition, the CEO bluntly told Windsurf’s staff they had a choice: Work weekends or take a buyout.

“We don’t believe in work-life balance,” Cognition CEO Scott Wu said in an email to staff, “building the future of software engineering is a mission we all care so deeply about that we couldn’t possibly separate the two.”

In a follow-up post on X, Wu explained that while the team at Cognition was “proud of how we work, we understand it’s not for everyone.”

Wu’s comments raised eyebrows at the time, but such demands are becoming commonplace among the younger generation of AI startup workers, many of whom reportedly live in “hacker houses” where techies live communally and grind 24/7.

A job posting for an AI researcher at Mercor, one of the startups mentioned in the WaPo story, lists “willingness to work 6 days a week” as among the qualifications for the job.

While working 72 hours a week is admittedly “not for everyone,” there are also doubts about whether it’s sustainable.

While it may be currently fashionable to glorify 996 work culture, in practice it can lead to burnout, procrastination, and limit the talent pool, according to Deedy Das, a partner in a venture capital firm who spoke to the Washington Post.

“I think overwhelmingly the founders who choose to glamorize this are younger,” he told the publication. “They don’t have the maturity to understand that experienced people can work a 40-to-50 hour week and get a lot more down than in an 80-hour week.”