Silicon Valley AI Startups Adopt China's 996 Work Culture

I'm fucking disgusted. The same Silicon Valley executives who spent years criticizing China's 996 culture are now implementing 9am-9pm, six-day work weeks at their own companies. Apparently "modern slavery" becomes "building the future" when you're the one profiting from it.

Ramp and TBPN analyzed startup spending data and found the smoking gun: office expenses, food delivery, and transportation costs all spike on weekends at AI startups. They're not just asking for extra hours - they're requiring full Saturday shifts and providing meals to keep people trapped in the office.

These Companies Are Actually Doing This Shit

Rilla, which makes AI for analyzing sales calls, literally puts "must work 70+ hours per week" in their job postings. Their head of growth Will Gao compared software engineering to professional basketball: "Kobe Bryant dedicated all his waking hours to basketball."

Are you fucking kidding me? Kobe got paid hundreds of millions and retired at 40. These developers are getting equity that might be worthless and burning out by 35.

I talked to three engineers at different AI startups this week. All working 996 schedules. Two haven't seen their kids awake in over a month. One told me: "I used to make fun of Chinese programmers for accepting this. Now I'm doing the same thing and can't quit because the equity could be worth millions."

The Money Makes People Complicit

Here's what makes me angrier: it's working. AI companies are offering $300K+ base salaries plus equity to make 72-hour weeks feel worth it. When you're making more money than you've ever seen, it's easier to rationalize missing your kid's birthday for "one more product launch."

Fella & Delilah offered their employees 25% raises and double equity to work 996 voluntarily. Only 10% took the deal. That should tell you something about how soul-crushing these schedules are - most people won't do it even for significantly more money.

Why This Pisses Me Off So Much

China banned 996 after documented worker deaths and protests. People literally died from overwork, and that still wasn't enough to stop companies from trying it elsewhere.

Now Silicon Valley thinks they can implement the same schedule "more humanely" by providing better snacks and calling it "passion for innovation."

The cognitive dissonance is insane. These are the same people who tweeted about worker rights in China for years. Now they're the ones requiring engineers to work Saturdays or get fired.

What Really Drives Me Crazy

UK VC Harry Stebbings thinks 996 isn't extreme enough. He wants "007" schedules - midnight to midnight, seven days a week. This asshole is literally advocating for around-the-clock work and calling it entrepreneurship.

At what point do we stop pretending this is about building great products and admit it's about exploiting desperate, talented people who are afraid of missing out on AI money?

The worst part? It doesn't even work. Research shows creativity and problem-solving deteriorate under extreme fatigue. These companies are grinding their engineers into the ground for worse code and slower development cycles.

But hey, at least the executives get to feel like they're "disrupting" something while their employees burn out and divorce their spouses.

The resurgence of 996 work culture in Silicon Valley's AI sector represents more than just a return to harsh working conditions—it reflects fundamental economic and psychological forces that are reshaping the technology industry. Understanding these underlying dynamics is crucial for evaluating whether extreme work practices are sustainable or merely a temporary response to AI's competitive pressures.

The Economic Incentive Structure

The AI sector has created unique economic conditions that make 996 culture economically rational for both companies and employees, despite its human costs:

Equity Compensation Amplification: AI startups often offer significant equity packages that could be worth millions if the company succeeds. For employees, working extreme hours can be viewed as protecting and maximizing their equity value. A successful AI startup could generate returns that dwarf the opportunity cost of work-life balance.

Time-to-Market Premiums: In AI markets, being first to market with breakthrough capabilities can generate winner-take-all advantages. The economic value of launching six months earlier might justify years of extreme working conditions from a purely financial perspective.

Venture Capital Pressure: AI startups face intense investor expectations for rapid progress. Companies that demonstrate extreme commitment through 996 culture may find it easier to raise subsequent funding rounds, creating competitive advantages that offset worker dissatisfaction.

Talent Market Distortions: The scarcity of AI expertise allows companies to demand extreme commitment while still attracting top talent through compensation packages that often exceed $500,000 annually for senior engineers.

Psychological Factors Driving Acceptance

The adoption of 996 culture isn't solely driven by economic coercion—several psychological factors make extreme work schedules appealing to AI workers:

Mission-Driven Motivation: Many AI workers genuinely believe they're contributing to transformative technology that could benefit humanity. This sense of purpose makes personal sacrifices seem worthwhile and meaningful.

Technical Challenge Addiction: AI development involves complex, intellectually stimulating problems that can be genuinely engaging. Some engineers find the technical challenges so compelling that extended work hours feel less burdensome.

Peer Competition and Status: Within AI circles, extreme dedication has become a status symbol. Working 996 schedules signals commitment and seriousness that can enhance professional reputation and career advancement.

FOMO and Historical Precedent: Many workers fear missing the "iPhone moment" of AI development. The success stories from previous tech booms (where extreme work led to life-changing wealth) create psychological pressure to accept similar sacrifices.

The Hidden Productivity Paradox

While 996 culture appears to maximize productivity through extended hours, research suggests more complex dynamics at work:

Cognitive Load Management: AI development requires sustained mental focus and creative problem-solving. Extended work hours can actually decrease the quality of cognitive output, potentially making 996 schedules counterproductive for complex technical work.

Technical Debt Accumulation: Rushed development under time pressure often creates technical debt—shortcuts and suboptimal solutions that require future rework. Companies adopting 996 culture may be optimizing for short-term velocity at the expense of long-term code quality.

Innovation vs. Execution Trade-offs: Extended work hours may improve execution of known tasks but can impair the creative thinking necessary for breakthrough innovations. The most valuable AI advances often come from insights that emerge during periods of reflection and mental rest.

Collaboration and Communication Overhead: Teams working extreme hours often experience increased communication failures and coordination problems, potentially offsetting individual productivity gains.

Competitive Dynamics and Market Structure

The spread of 996 culture reflects specific characteristics of AI market competition:

Network Effects and Standards Competition: In AI, early market leaders can establish technical standards and network effects that lock out competitors. This dynamic makes speed-to-market critical and justifies extreme measures to achieve temporal advantages.

Talent Concentration Effects: The limited pool of AI experts creates bidding wars for talent, but also allows companies to demand extreme commitment from workers who have invested heavily in specialized skills.

Capital Intensity and Burn Rates: AI development requires massive computational resources and skilled labor. Companies face pressure to maximize progress before running out of funding, creating rational incentives for intensive work schedules.

Regulatory Uncertainty: The unclear regulatory environment for AI creates time pressure to establish market positions before potential government intervention, adding urgency to development timelines.

International Competition Implications

The adoption of 996 culture in Silicon Valley has significant implications for global AI competition:

Comparative Advantage Questions: If American AI companies adopt Chinese-style work practices, the competitive advantage from different cultural approaches may diminish. This could level the playing field between Silicon Valley and competitors in regions with less restrictive labor practices.

Brain Drain and Talent Migration: Extreme work culture might encourage skilled AI researchers to relocate to countries with better work-life balance, potentially shifting innovation centers over time.

Ethical AI Development: The pressure of 996 culture might compromise attention to AI safety and ethical considerations, as teams focus on rapid development rather than careful consideration of broader implications.

Regulatory Response Risk: If 996 culture becomes normalized, it might trigger regulatory intervention or labor organization efforts that could disrupt the AI sector's development trajectory.

Long-Term Industry Evolution

The current prevalence of 996 culture may represent a transitional phase rather than a permanent feature of the AI industry:

Market Maturation Effects: As AI markets mature and competition stabilizes, the extreme time pressure driving 996 culture may diminish, allowing more sustainable work practices to emerge.

Automation Irony: The AI tools being developed under extreme work conditions may eventually automate enough development tasks to reduce the need for intensive human labor, making 996 culture self-eliminating.

Generational Value Shifts: Younger workers increasingly prioritize work-life balance over pure financial optimization, potentially creating pressure for more sustainable practices as the workforce evolves.

Productivity Tool Development: Better AI-assisted development tools could increase productivity during normal work hours, reducing the perceived need for extended schedules.

The 996 culture's resurgence in Silicon Valley reflects a complex interplay of economic incentives, competitive pressures, and psychological factors unique to the AI boom. While these conditions make extreme work practices temporarily rational, the long-term sustainability and human cost of such approaches remain significant concerns that the industry must eventually address.