{"id":2771,"date":"2026-07-29T11:06:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T11:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanhomejournals.com\/?p=2771"},"modified":"2026-07-29T11:06:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T11:06:21","slug":"ais-latest-casualty-the-health-of-the-people-building-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanhomejournals.com\/?p=2771","title":{"rendered":"AI’s latest casualty? The health of the people building it."},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Forget the environment or job opportunities. AI’s latest casualty might be the health of the people building it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Read more How this 18-year-old\u2019s love of origami helped him win a $100,000 at a science fair<\/a><\/p>\n

Thinking Machines Lab cofounder Lilian Weng said she’s stepping down from her role because of stress and illness<\/u>. Weng, who also spent time at OpenAI, didn’t disclose a specific diagnosis but said she’s been ill more often in the past seven months than at any other point in her life.<\/p>\n

“I don’t feel I’m able to continue at the pace a startup requires,” Weng wrote in a note to colleagues.<\/p>\n

She’s not alone, as evidenced by the internet’s response to her exit<\/u>. The pressures of the highly competitive AI race are taking a toll on the people involved in it.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, OpenAI executive Fidji Simo<\/u> took medical leave before stepping away completely from her full-time role to become a part-time advisor<\/u>. Simo, who was also an executive at Meta and Instacart’s CEO, suffers from postural tachycardia syndrome, or POTS. The chronic illness<\/u> causes heart palpitations, lightheadedness, and fainting.<\/p>\n

XAI cofounder Greg Yang also shifted into an informal advisory role after he was diagnosed with Lyme disease. Yang said he’d sometimes sleep 12 hours a day but still couldn’t recover, adding that he needed to “go founder mode on my health<\/u>.”<\/p>\n

Read more The 5 most interesting takeaways from Bernard Arnault\u2019s rare podcast interview<\/a><\/p>\n

Could this be the start of a kinder, gentler era for tech employees?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The tech industry has spent the past few years touting the need to go “hardcore” and enter “founder mode” to compete. In theory, tech executives burning out from such a hectic pace should lead to a rethink of the entire strategy.<\/p>\n

In theory, that is.<\/p>\n

The reality is the AI race stops for no one. There are trillions of dollars at stake, and a general sense that any slowdown risks losing your competitive edge.<\/p>\n

It’s also notable that the executives stepping away are often one level removed from the big boss. The CEOs, meanwhile, remain firmly in place.<\/p>\n

One of the few recent health-related departures involving a big boss \u2014 C3.ai’s Tom Siebel \u2014 is also pretty telling. Siebel, who resigned in 2025 because of autoimmune disease-related vision problems, returned to the helm in May, telling CNBC the company’s performance was “candidly unacceptable.”<\/u><\/p>\n

Read more The tao of Steve Krug<\/a><\/p>\n

In the meantime, maybe read about how top leaders manage burnout<\/u>.<\/p>\n

Just be sure to get back to work quickly.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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