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Tech executives tout AI free time, staff say hours have climbed
The BBC reports internal accounts of weekend work and longer hours at major AI developers, while some firms have also carried out layoffs.
Executives at companies investing heavily in artificial intelligence have long argued the technology will reduce how much people need to work, aiming for outcomes like shorter workweeks. The BBC points to past claims including a Google engineering director who said AI would deliver a four day work week by 2025, and an OpenAI push earlier this year for companies to trial a four day week without pay changes, based on the idea that AI will speed up human labor.
But a former OpenAI technical employee interviewed by the BBC said the company never actually trialled the four day work week it encouraged others to test. Instead, the former employee described a demanding work culture involving frequent crisis meetings, work on weekends, and performance reviews that could lead to colleagues being let go.
The report also highlights other AI industry messaging that productivity will translate into less human time. It cites Anthropic claims about its Claude tool being able to work for hours without a break, and Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg saying AI would dramatically change how people work.
Despite those messages, the BBC says staff using the same tools report working far more than a typical 40 hour, five day week, and it notes that Meta has since laid off 1 in 10 employees.
The BBC also reports that Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei warned that as AI tools become more productive, it could contribute to broader job losses. It concludes by contrasting external predictions of reduced hours with internal accounts of heavy workloads.