The tech world is buzzing with a new number: 996. That’s 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week—a grueling 72-hour workweek born in China’s tech scene and now gaining traction in Silicon Valley’s race for AI supremacy. As companies scramble to outpace each other in the quest to build the next OpenAI, human workers are being pushed to their limits. The irony is stark: in the rush to create machines that might replace us, we’re burning out the very minds driving the innovation.
Just a few years ago, the tech industry was singing a different tune. A tight labor market had employers prioritizing work-life balance, offering perks to keep workers happy while unions gained momentum. That era feels like a distant memory. Today’s job market is shaky, federal workers are unpaid, union contracts are crumbling, and offices are filling up again. Startups, in particular, are unapologetic about demanding long hours. Data from Ramp shows a spike in weekend takeout orders in San Francisco, a sign that Saturday is becoming just another workday.
Take Sonatic, a startup brazen enough to advertise a job requiring on-site work seven days a week. Their pitch? Free housing and a Raya dating app subscription, as if that offsets the loss of personal time. Their 21-year-old CEO claims this setup fosters “focus on the mission.” Other firms echo this sentiment, wearing their 996 expectations like a badge of honor. Some AI researchers are even pushing beyond, joking about “0-0-2” schedules—midnight to midnight with a measly two-hour weekend break. These are the elite, often earning seven figures, yet as the Wall Street Journal notes, many are too busy to enjoy their newfound wealth.
This grindset is particularly pronounced among younger founders and workers, many in their twenties, who are embracing a lifestyle of no drinking, no drugs, intense workouts, and relentless work. “Lift heavy, run far, marry early, track sleep, eat steak and eggs,” one AI cofounder told the SF Standard, painting a picture of a generation trading balance for ambition. Meanwhile, their older peers seem to take a more measured approach, highlighting a growing age divide in Silicon Valley’s work culture.
But here’s the kicker: China, where 996 originated, banned mandatory 72-hour workweeks over four years ago after worker deaths were linked to the schedule. If the country that birthed this practice has deemed it unsustainable, why is Silicon Valley doubling down? The tech industry has long romanticized overwork—think sleeping under desks or pulling all-nighters—but 996 isn’t a sprint; it’s a marathon with no finish line. Computer science professor Cal Newport calls this “pseudo-productivity,” where success is measured not by output but by visible effort—hours logged, Slack messages sent. In his book *Slow Productivity*, Newport argues that doing less, not more, is the key to meaningful work. From Isaac Newton to Jane Austen, history’s great minds thrived by focusing deeply on fewer tasks, not by chaining themselves to a desk.
The 996 trend is a warning sign. It’s not just about burnout, though that’s real—overwork stifles creativity and productivity in the long run. It’s about a culture that glorifies exhaustion over ingenuity, particularly among a generation too young to remember the last time this cycle played out. Tech’s brightest minds are racing to build AI that might one day replace them, but at what cost? If we’re not careful, the human toll of this ambition will outstrip the breakthroughs it seeks to achieve. It’s time to rethink what productivity means—before the machines do it for us.