AI Workers Claim Projects Have Increased Workload, Contradicting Promises of Easier Labor

Workers at OpenAI, Meta, and Google are claiming that AI projects have increased their workload, contradicting promises that AI would make work easier. Current and former employees report working long hours, with some exceeding 90 hours in a single week.

A former OpenAI technical employee described regular crisis meetings, weekend shifts, and a cut-throat performance review process that could end in sudden layoffs. The company had earlier this year urged other companies to test a four-day workweek, citing AI's ability to accelerate human labor.

At Meta, workers were reassigned to AI teams through a process called being 'drafted.' Those teams are working on AI tools for software engineering and infrastructure that measure how well models can replicate human tasks. The need to check AI-generated output has added to the workload rather than reducing it.