Has AI intensified startup work culture, or was extreme intensity already the norm before AI?

Jason James · Aug 29, 2025

AI has not made work cultures more intense; elite startup cultures were already around-the-clock before AI

Instacart was effectively pre-AI and brutally intense — sixty to seventy hour good weeks, a hundred to a hundred and ten bad ones, with people instantly responsive on Slack at midnight

37:00 Elite startup cultures were already always on before ai

Jason James · Aug 29, 2025

Companies glorify 996 as employer-brand marketing — a coded way to self-select for twenty to twenty-six year olds and signal extreme intensity

Everyone is intense, so claiming super-intensity differentiates you in the talent market and attracts D1-athlete types; the result is a junior and mid-level workforce that works and socializes very hard

38:10 996 glorification is employer brand signaling not real differentiation

Max Junestrand · Aug 15, 2025

Europe's vocal opposition to 996 doesn't reflect actual behaviour — people on his own team have to be told to stop working late on Saturdays

55:23 Public opposition to 996 doesnt match actual private work behavior

Mike Shebat · Nov 27, 2023

Publicly declaring a 996-style dedication becomes a magnet for a specific kind of talent rather than a deterrent

Traba's head of finance proactively reached out after reading about the company's culture

19:37 Publicly declaring 996 culture attracts aligned talent rather than deterring candidates

Harry Stebbings · Jun 2, 2025

Working seven days a week is becoming the norm again in Silicon Valley

25:51 Seven day work weeks are resurging as the silicon valley norm