The 996 economy: Overtime, Silicon Valley–style

Businessman concentrating while working overtime in the office late at night — AI researchers are too busy to spend their newly acquired millions

(Image credit: Maskot / Getty Images)

Don’t even look for a 9 to 5 in Silicon Valley, said Danielle Abril in The Washington Post. Job seekers in the hotbed of artificial intelligence today have to be willing to devote themselves to the “996” cause, shorthand for the new standard work ethic in the all-out AI race. The term comes from a Chinese corporate work expectation (outlawed in 2021) that employees should toil at the office “from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., 6 days a week.” A typical Silicon Valley job listing today now reads something like this: “Amazing salary, hacker house in SF, crazy equity, 996.” A few companies are even taking it further. Sonatic, a San Francisco–based AI startup, recently “posted a job opening that requires in-person work seven days a week,” with perks that include “free housing, free food delivery, and a free subscription to the dating service Raya”—not that employees will have much time to use it.

AI researchers are “now millionaires” but are too busy to “spend their new fortunes,” said Bradley Olson and Meghan Bobrowsky in The Wall Street Journal. The pressure to “keep pace with a seemingly endless cycle of disruption” is so intense that work is being done at all hours. Corporate credit-card transaction data from the expense-management startup Ramp has shown a spike in delivery orders in San Francisco on Saturdays between noon and midnight. “Several top researchers compared the circumstances to war.” San Francisco’s “grindcore culture is back and grindier than ever,” said Rya Jetha in The San Francisco Standard. “996” is the “talk of the town.” Look no further than the co-working space StartupHQ, where each floor is home to roughly 10 startups, “desks are littered with half-drained cans of Celsius, and DoorDash couriers stream through the lobby in a near-constant rotation.” But some founders insist that “no one is working 12 hours straight every single day,” and “996” is “more of a mindset that work is your life, rather than a rigid routine.”

“996” isn’t the way for any company to get ahead, said Gautam Mukunda in Bloomberg. “Going all the way back to experiments with British ammunition factories during World War I, management researchers have shown, time and time again, that extending hours past 40 to 45 per week decreases productivity.” Overworking “kills the curiosity and creativity that innovation depends on.” This, however, is taboo in image-conscious Silicon Valley. The “tyrannical boss who drives the team to the breaking point” has become practically iconic. “Championing the 996 grind is a great way to signal to investors, rivals, and even employees the seriousness and importance of your work.” The venture capitalists writing checks to these types of leaders ought to reconsider what they are rewarding.