The prevailing sentiment surrounding the current artificial intelligence surge is reportedly somber, even within the technology sector itself, a perspective articulated by Menlo Ventures partner Deedy Das in an extensive social media commentary.
Das characterized San Francisco as presently "pretty frenetic," noting that "the divide in outcomes is the worst I’ve ever seen."
Through a "back of the envelope AI calculation," Das estimated that approximately 10,000 individuals — encompassing founders and employees at prominent firms such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Nvidia — have achieved "retirement wealth of well above $20M." In stark contrast, he observed a widespread concern among others that they could "work their well-paying (but <$500k) job for their whole life and never get there."
Furthermore, Das highlighted that "layoffs are in full swing," and a significant number of "software engineers feel that their life’s skill is no longer useful." This situation, he explained, is fostering uncertainty regarding optimal career trajectories and contributing to "a deep malaise about work (and its future)."
These observations elicited a degree of skepticism on X (formerly Twitter), with entrepreneur Deva Hazarika contending that "most of the people in this post" are "incredibly fortunate and can simply make a choice to be happy."
Another user on the platform remarked that it is "pretty damn novel & also kinda nasty" that within the current technological cycle, "the same technology is both the lottery ticket & the thing eating your fallback."
In his direct commentary, Das reiterated the intense atmosphere in San Francisco, stating, "The vibes in SF feel pretty frenetic right now. The divide in outcomes is the worst I've ever seen." He further specified that "Over the last 5yrs, a group of ~10k people – employees at Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI, Nvidia, Meta TBD, founders – have hit retirement wealth of well above $20M (back of the envelope…" underscoring the rapid wealth accumulation for a select few.
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