Employees Contradict Tech Leaders’ Claim That AI Reduces Work Hours for Staff

Artificial intelligence was once presented as a way to give workers more free time. Executives across the technology industry have argued that increasingly capable AI systems could handle routine tasks, allowing employees to work fewer hours without sacrificing productivity. Evidence from inside several leading AI companies, however, suggests the reality may be moving in the opposite direction. 

A Google engineering executive predicted several years ago that AI could help bring about a four-day working week by 2025. OpenAI later encouraged businesses to experiment with a four-day schedule while maintaining employees’ salaries, arguing that advances in AI could significantly increase productivity. 

However, a former OpenAI technical worker told the BBC that the company did not introduce such a schedule while they were employed there. Instead, the employee described a demanding environment involving weekend work, frequent emergency meetings, and intense performance evaluations. 

The former worker said they regularly worked at least 70 hours each week at OpenAI. At their current AI-focused startup, their schedule is closer to 50 to 60 hours, except during particularly demanding development periods. 

Employees at Meta and Anthropic have also described demanding schedules as companies race to develop new AI products and infrastructure. Workers familiar with projects at Anthropic and OpenAI said intensive periods can continue for weeks, with some employees working more than 90 hours in a single week. 

At Meta, current and former staff said employees were moved into urgent AI teams, sometimes without having much choice. One former worker described the process as being effectively “drafted” into AI projects. Employees assigned to these groups have reportedly worked late into the evening, on weekends, and remained available outside normal working hours. 

The pressure extends beyond employees directly building AI systems. Former Google worker Amin Shali said he left the company partly because of problems he associated with its growing focus on AI. According to Shali, engineers increasingly had to work overnight when internal systems failed, while computing resources were redirected toward AI initiatives. 

Research from the University of California, Berkeley, provides another indication that AI may not automatically reduce workloads. Researchers followed hundreds of employees at a U.S. tech company for eight months and found that workers using AI completed tasks more quickly but also expanded their responsibilities and worked across more hours of the day. 

Neil Thompson, an innovation researcher at MIT, said productivity gains can create additional responsibilities rather than free time. Employees may have to monitor AI-generated work, introduce new systems, and handle tasks made possible by the technology. 

The result, Thompson suggested, is that time saved through automation can quickly be absorbed by new demands. Rather than producing shorter working weeks, AI may simply change what employees are expected to accomplish. 

For workers hoping AI will bring more rest, that raises an uncomfortable question: if technology can do more work, will companies reduce workloads, or will they simply expect people to do more? 

It would be interesting to hear what the workweek is like at tech companies like D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE: QBTS) that are developing another frontier technology, quantum computing. 

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