Meta's AI unit is a gulag, engineers say

Meta's months-old AI unit is calling itself the future. The engineers inside are calling it a gulag.

The TechCrunch report on the ground says the complaints aren't just about long hours or shifting targets. They're about the actual working conditions — the pace, the pressure, the feeling of being stuck in a machine that runs on momentum more than strategy. "Soul-crushing" isn't a throwaway word here. It's what people actually say.

This is the AI boom in real time. The hype is loud, but the people building the tools are exhausted. And we should pay attention: la gente who builds the AI that will run our businesses, our tools, our daily lives is tired. That matters for all of us — the quality of the tools we use depends on whether the people building them still have the energy to do it well.

Why this matters for us: the AI tools that shape our work and our communities are built by real people, not magic, and when the builders are worn out, everything they build shows it.