Overview
- Multiple AI firms in San Francisco and New York now promote 9 a.m.–9 p.m., six-day schedules, with Rilla urging roughly 70-hour in-person weeks and Mercor listing six days as nonnegotiable.
- Cognition told staff from its Windsurf acquisition to accept weekend work or take a buyout, and CEO Scott Wu says the team often works late and through weekends with some employees living at the office.
- Ramp corporate-card data show a 2025 spike in Saturday transactions in San Francisco versus 2024, which an in-house economist says suggests broader uptake of 996-style schedules.
- Industry figures defend longer hours as a way to seize a short AI market window, with Sergey Brin calling 60 hours a productivity “sweet spot” and venture backers stressing speed to “build first.”
- Experts cite WHO findings that working beyond 55 hours raises stroke and heart-disease risks and warn of burnout, reduced long-run output, and a narrower talent pool under extreme schedules.