A researcher joked that working at OpenAI ages you. Now colleagues are posting their before-and-after photos.
OpenAI employees are sharing before-and-after photos on social media to joke about the intense, fast-paced work environment at the company. The trend began after an engineering lead's appearance sparked online speculation about the physical toll of his job.
Why it matters
This highlights the 'crunch culture' often associated with high-growth tech startups and the intense pressure faced by employees in the AI industry.
Thibault Sottiaux's X post sparked a mini trend of OpenAI colleagues sharing their own before-and-after photos. Mustafa Yalcin/Anadolu via Getty Images An OpenAI Codex lead joked that the lab's pace can make workers feel years older in days. After the post went viral, his Codex colleagues began sharing their own before-and-after photos. The joke comes as AI leaders describe the health toll of the industry's breakneck pace. Working at OpenAI may look good for your résumé. For your under-eyes? The company's researchers are not so sure. A tongue-in-cheek joke by Thibault Sottiaux, the engineering lead on OpenAI's Codex, about the AI lab's breakneck pace has sparked a mini before-and-after trend among colleagues — complete with changed hairstyles and a recommendation for eye patches. "A few weeks at OpenAI feel like years at other companies in terms of how much gets done," Sottiaux wrote in an X post on Thursday.
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