Tech leaders say AI means less work - their staff say they work up to 90 hours a week

Executives at major tech companies anticipate that artificial intelligence will ultimately reduce the amount of time people spend working. However, workers within these firms who both develop and utilize AI claim they are logging in far beyond the standard five-day, 40-hour work week. Former OpenAI technical staff inform the BBC that the company never actually tested the four-day work week they encouraged others to try, instead describing a high-pressure work culture involving late-night meetings, weekend work, and intense performance reviews.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has stated that AI will soon dramatically change the way people work, though this company has recently laid off 1 in 10 employees. Anthropic's CEO warns that AI productivity gains could result in broader job losses. Meta workers report being abruptly assigned to AI-focused teams during the most recent year, with work hours often extending into the night and over weekends.