There speed with which thegenerative artificial intelligence is evolving before all of our eyes. Just think of the success of ChatGPT and other chatbots: although they entered our lives only a few years ago, in a short time they have become integral part of our daily life. In April 2025, there were Italians using ChatGPT almost nine million (without considering all the other AI, such as Gemini, Grok or Copilot). Again to remain in Italy, according to the Artificial Intelligence Observatory of the Polytechnic of Milan in 2025 the turnover of AI in Italy was worth 1.8 billion eurosapproximately 50% more than the year before.
This success is putting tech companies working in the AI sector in a climate of unprecedented competition. The startups in this sector are multiplying as far as the eye can see and companies know they will have to do faster than others if they don’t want to give way to those who can do better and faster than them. However, all this frenzy is also revolutionizing them work methodsand more structurally the very idea of work, making the classic 40 hour work week a distant memory.
72 hour work weeks
We are not talking about a few more extraordinary ones, but about a new working model in which the famous work-life balance not only does it no longer exist, but it is openly relegated to a symptom of lack of ambition and dedication to work. “Please don’t sign up if you’re not excited about work approximately 70 hours a week in person with some of the most ambitious people in New York,” reads an ad for a new job position on the website Rillaa New York AI tech company that – as the BBC explains – has become an example of this new work culture admittedly all-encompassing.
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A new working model
In fact, those who propose this working method do not try to hide it, but claim it as indispensable requirement for a successful company made up of ambitious and truly talented people. Rilla’s head of growth, Will Gao, says it openly when he is ready to bet that his 120 employees are anything but unhappy:
“We are looking for people who are like Olympic athletes, with characteristics such as obsession or infinite ambition. These are people who they want to do amazing things and have a lot of fun while doing them,” he says.
The legacy of culture 996
In reality this approach to work is only experiencing a new season thanks to the race for AI, but he was not born today. Let’s talk about that system established in China about ten years ago, right in the tech sector, known as “culture 996”. The sequence of numbers indicates the working model you plan to work on from 9am to 9pmso 9-9, six days a week. From here 996or 72 hours per week. Among its main supporters and supporters is Jack Mathe founder of B2B ecommerce platform Alibaba.com. The billionaire entrepreneur in a public post to his employees had defined the opportunity to work as 996 one “blessing”.
Risks to employee health
It must be said that concerns about the consequences for the health of employees have grown equally rapidly in many countries. In the end the dissent in China it had become so strong that the Chinese government had to intervene: so in 2021, at least formally, the 996 timetable was declared illegal by the Supreme People’s Court and the Ministry of Human Resources.
In addition to grassroots protests, the effects on the health of workers forced to do so have become evident in recent years. We’re not just talking about China, either South Korea the phenomenon of deaths related to stress at work is so important that a term has been coined to indicate it, the “Gwarosa”.
The phenomenon also came to the attention ofWorld Health Organization (WHO) which in 2021 together with the International Labor Organization (ILO) conducted a study to scientifically evaluate the possible health effects of such an intense working week. The results speak clearly: work more than 55 hours per week increases the risk of ischemic heart disease and stroke. Translated: working models that involve over 55 hours per week can increase the risk of dying from too much work. Specifically the risk of death from heart attack is 17% higher compared to those who work 35-40 hours a week.
