The haves and have-nots in the AI ​​gold rush

The sentiment surrounding the current AI boom isn’t great, even in the tech industry, according to a long social media post from Menlo Ventures partner Deedy Das.

Das described San Francisco as “pretty hectic right now,” with “the split in results being the worst I’ve ever seen.”

Using “comprehensive AI calculations,” he predicts that there are about 10,000 people — founders and employees at companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Nvidia — who have “achieved retirement wealth well in excess of $20 million,” while everyone else worries that “they can work at their well-paying (but sub-$500,000) jobs all their lives and never get there.”

In addition, “layoffs are afoot,” and “many software engineers feel their life skills are no longer useful,” leading to confusion about the best career paths and “a deep malaise about the work (and its future),” Das said.

This raised some eyebrows around X, with entrepreneur Deva Hazarika saying that “most of the people in this post” are “incredibly lucky and can simply choose to be happy.”

Another user suggested that this is a “great novel that’s kind of bad” and that in the current cycle, “technology itself is the lottery ticket and the thing that eats up your reserves.”