Tech companies are not modelling their own claims of the technology giving people more free time.

For years now, executives at companies that are pouring hundreds of billions of dollars a year into developing various artificial intelligence tools have insisted that the technology will ultimately mean people will spend less of their time working.

An engineering director at Google said four years ago that AI would deliver a four-day work week by 2025.

Earlier this year, and just one year after that engineering director’s prediction, OpenAI took up the challenge, in a manner of speaking. It formally urged companies to start testing out a four-day work week (with no change in pay), claiming that AI will soon be able to speed up so much human labour that the corporate world should prepare itself.

However, a former OpenAI technical employee who left the company last year told the BBC the firm never actually trialled the four-day work week it suggested others should try while they were there.

Instead, the person described what was often a gruelling work culture marked by frequent “crisis meetings”, working on weekends, and “super cut-throat” performance reviews that would see colleagues suddenly let go.

“You go in on Saturday or Sunday just to catch up or make sure things aren’t broken,” the person said.

  • Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafeEnglish
    26·
    9 days ago

    Sorry, no one’s working 90 hours a week. Can we be less hyperbolic so we can get at the truth?

    I’ve worked like that when I was in my 20’s - it can only be done for a short time.

    And no corpo wants you to do this, as it’s counterproductive.

    Sounds like a bunch of senior managers who are paid a lot making shit up for their own reasons.

    There are plenty of other, truthful reasons to dislike these companies. Let’s not give them lies to hide behind.

    • DupaCycki@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      9 days ago

      Sorry, no one’s working 90 hours a week.

      I’ve worked like that when I was in my 20’s

    • Stupidmanager@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      9 days ago

      Former IT consultant here. 60+ hours a week every week. With periods of 70-80 hours for up to 3 weeks at a time,5-10x a year. 90 might be a stretch but I’ve done a few 90hr weeks myself. You do what’s needed to keep your job, or in my case to make that 30% completion bonus.

      ** edit - plus I was always on. Email from boss at 2am, or a client. Sure as shit replying. Americans are idiots, myself included.

    • Granbo's Holy Hotrod@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      9 days ago

      Gotta set boundaries. The “grind” is a myth made up by corpos looking to get advantage over labour. I detest how accounting labels people as a liability. If someone is doing 90 hours…I question what they think that is accomplishing for them?

    • GreenKnight23@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      9 days ago

      developer here.

      one time I was asked to track my hours so I pulled all the data of my phones location from google for the year. assuming when I was at location it meant I was working I had amassed an entire years worth of hour by June. when I made this report it was November.

      keep in mind this didn’t account for the hours I worked from home on the weekends either.

      technically if there was flex time I should have received an additional 16+ weeks of vacation.

      I did not.

      Sorry, no one’s working 90 hours a week. Can we be less hyperbolic so we can get at the truth?

      1000004445