Not long after the terms “996” and “grindcore” entered the popular lexicon, people started telling me stories about what was happening at startups in San Francisco, ground zero for the artificial intelligence economy. There was the one about the founder who hadn’t taken a weekend off in more than six months. The woman who joked that she’d given up her social life to work at a prestigious AI company. Or the employees who had started taking their shoes off in the office because, well, if you were going to be there for at least 12 hours a day, six days a week, wouldn’t you rather be wearing slippers?
“If you go to a cafe on a Sunday, everyone is working,” says Sanju Lokuhitige, the co-founder of Mythril, a pre-seed-stage AI startup, who moved to San Francisco in November to be closer to the action. Lokuhitige says he works seven days a week, 12 hours a day, minus a few carefully selected social events each week where he can network with other people at startups. “Sometimes I’m coding the whole day,” he says. “I do not have work-life balance.”
Another startup employee, who came to San Francisco to work for an early-stage AI company, showed me dismal photos from his office: a two-bedroom apartment in the Dogpatch, a neighborhood popular with tech workers. His startup’s founders live and work in this apartment – from 9am until as late as 3am, breaking only to DoorDash meals or to sleep, and leaving the building only to take cigarette breaks. The employee (who asked not to use his name, since he still works for this company) described the situation as “horrendous”. “I’d heard about 996, but these guys don’t even do 996,” he says. “They’re working 16-hour days.”
I’d not heard about 996.
It’s not even different priorities. I’m convinced it’s indoctrinated wage slavery. Some who live under it embrace it, and other endure it depending on their perspective. I suppose some reject it entirely, too, if they’re able.
I meant, the priorities for the society as a whole. Our governments and laws are formed accordingly. On individual level it’s same here as well. We have people who reject (or abuse) the system, who hate the taxes etc. But our society is formed to provide certain things like free access to education, healthcare and collective social security for elderly and those who can’t support themselves.
Ahhh, my apologies. I completely missed your intended meaning. It seems a lot more obvious reading it the second time. Thanks for clarifying. I agree that it seems our governments have different priorities. I hope every day that people learn from countries that treat their citizens better.