Current and former workers at OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and Google told the BBC that developing AI often involves long hours, weekend shifts, and constant pressure to meet product deadlines. The former OpenAI employee said the company did not try a four-day workweek while they were there. Meta workers described being moved onto AI teams with little warning. Meta has reportedly softened its reassignment approach, but workers said many employees had already been placed on AI projects. Amin Shali, a former Google employee, said he left the company in May after seeing internal engineering systems fail more often.