In the technology sector, the 9-9-6 format is gaining popularity again - working from 9:00 to 21:00 six days a week. The 72-hour workweek is now being actively used by startups and technology companies seeking to gain an advantage in the artificial intelligence race, writes Axios.

Despite fears that AI will soon take away human jobs, it is now pushing Silicon Valley workers to the limit of their physical and mental limits.. Just a few years ago, the situation looked different: against the backdrop of a shortage of personnel, companies tried to provide employees with comfort and a balance between work and life, and trade unions were on the rise. Now everything has changed - the labor market is unstable, some union agreements have been canceled, and offices are filled with people again.

Tech companies, especially young startups, require long work days. In San Francisco, the number of corporate food orders on the weekend has increased significantly, according to financial platform Ramp - a sign that workers are increasingly working on Saturday..

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Some firms even formalize this approach. Startup Sonatic has posted a vacancy that requires working seven days a week.. The company offers free housing and even a subscription to the dating service Raya. According to the 21-year-old CEO, "

According to The Wall Street Journal, some leading AI engineers work 100 hours a week.. There is even a joke among them about the “0-0-2” schedule - from midnight to midnight with a two-hour break on weekends. Such working conditions are common among a small circle of highly skilled professionals who earn seven-figure salaries but often admit that they do not have time to spend their wealth.

Most of these workers are under the age of thirty. Their lifestyle is radically different from their older colleagues: abstaining from alcohol and entertainment, waking up early, physical training, monitoring sleep and nutrition..

“The current atmosphere is no alcohol, no drugs, 9-9-6 work schedule, heavy loads, long running, early marriage, sleep tracking, eating steak and eggs,” the co-founder of one of the AI \u200b\u200bstartups shared in a commentary to SF Standard.

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This regime was officially banned in China more than four years ago, after a number of worker deaths caused by exhaustion.. However, the idea of \u200b\u200b“worker maximalism” is returning in a different format - now as a symbol of technological fanaticism.

Experts remind that overwork in the IT industry is not new. The cult of constant employment, sleeping in offices and demonstrative “dedication to work” has existed for decades. At the same time, as computer science professor Kel Newport points out, such behavior often has nothing to do with actual performance..

In his book Slow Productivity, he calls this phenomenon “pseudo-productivity” - when productivity is measured not by results, but by the number of hours spent at the computer or in a corporate chat. Newport notes that "

While there is a trend towards overtime work in the US, in Europe the large-scale impact of AI on the labor market is not yet visible. This phenomenon can be traced to the fact that the demand for workers in traditional industries, such as construction or manufacturing, is outpacing the technological impact.