Bay Area AI startups are turning their eyes to China’s banned “996” working model

According to New reports from Wired, Bay Area startups are increasingly leaning towards models similar to China’s 996 work culture, with employees expected to work 72 hours total, from 9am to 9pm, six days a week.

Startups in the AI space, especially openly seek new starts to embrace longer working hours. For example, AI startup Rilla talks to future employees Current job list Don’t worry about applying unless you’re excited to “work in person with some of New York’s most ambitious people.”

The company’s growth manager told Will Gao Wired “There was an increasing number of Gen-Z subcultures that grew up listening to Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. He said that almost all of Rilla’s 80-person workforce works on a 996 schedule.

The controversial rise of labor culture appears to have emerged from the current efficient squeeze of Silicon Valley. The massive amounts of layoffs and rising AI have put pressure on high-tech employees who have been able to keep their jobs up.

For example, in February Google Co-founder Sergey Brin told employees working for Gemini that he recommended staying in the office at least on weekdays and said 60 hours was a “sweet spot” for productivity.

Other high-tech CEOs, including Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, emphasize that worker productivity is king. In November 2022, Musk later said that the rest of the X was infamous Twitteremployees leave the company committing to a new “very hardcore” culture or paying retirement benefits.

Part of the reason for the intense work schedule is the desire to compete with China in the global AI race. Especially after the Chinese startup, Deepseek has released AI models comparable to some of the top US offerings, rocking major AI labs.

China is actually trying to crack down on 996 cultures at home. In 2021, China’s Supreme Court, Supreme People’s Court, and the Ministry of Personnel and Social Security jointly declared China’s “996” labor culture was illegal. At the time, the move was part of the Chinese Communist Party’s broader campaign to reduce inequality in Chinese society and limit the power of the country’s largest tech companies.

However, this practice has already spread to other countries. At the beginning of this summer, European Technology Sector It also caused a fierce debate over labor culture.

Some European VCs have warned that continuing debate about European technology and competitiveness in the AI space could be partially exacerbated, and that more work and longer time may be required to compete effectively.

said Harry Stevings, founder of the 20VC fund. LinkedIn In June, Silicon Valley was able to “increase its strength” and European founders had to attract attention.

“(7) days are the speed you need to win right now. There’s no room for a slip,” Stevings said in the post. “You’re not competing with random companies in Germany or elsewhere, but you’re the best in the world.”

Several other founders criticized the rise of the 996 work culture, warning that it could soon lead to burnout and culture. Among them was Ivee Miller, the general partner of Balderton Capital.

“It’s one of the top three reasons why burnout (IS) early stage ventures fail. That’s a bad reason to literally invest,” Miller said on LinkedIn.