Стартапи Кремнієвої долини змушують працівників переходити на суперечливий графік 996 / Depositphotos
AI startups in Silicon Valley are increasingly forcing employees to adopt a controversial work model from China known as “996.” This is a fairly rigid work schedule that requires you to work 72 hours a week, from 9:00 to 21:00 for six days.
The practice, previously popular in China, has been officially banned in the country due to concerns about worker exploitation and health impacts. However, against the backdrop of the AI race, some American startups from Silicon Valley are slowly starting to follow suit.
One of them, Rilla, has posted a job posting stating that candidates should apply only if they are willing to work 70+ hours per week. The startup’s boss notes that he is targeting the “buzzer generation” that grew up with stories about Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, who dedicated their lives to companies that changed the world. Almost all of Rilla’s 80-strong staff is already working on the 996 schedule.
Industry leaders have often spoken out in support of such models. Google co-founder Sergey Brin recommended a 60-hour working week for the teams working on the Gemini AI project, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg also emphasized the importance of productivity, with the former forcing employees to adopt a “tough” working culture with overnights in the office or leave the company.
Part of the reason for such a busy schedule is the desire to compete with China in the global race for artificial intelligence. Especially after the startup DeepSeek released a model that has brought down the shares of such giants as Nvidia due to the “economy” of training.
The resurgence of the 996 schedule in the US and Europe is sparking a wide debate in the industry. While it is sometimes difficult for companies to stay afloat without it, some executives warn of the risks of employee burnout and, as a result, startup failures.
“Burnout is one of the top three causes of early-stage company failure. It’s literally a bad reason to invest,” Balderton Capital General Partner Ivy Miller writes on LinkedIn.
Instead, 20VC founder Harry Stebbings called on European companies to “increase their intensity” in response to innovations in Silicon Valley.
“Seven days a week is the speed required to win now. There is no room for mistakes. You are not competing with a random company in Germany, but with the best in the world.”
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