Elon Musk's Employee Boasts About 19-Hour Workday, Triggers Hustle Culture Debate

An xAI engineer has divided the internet after boasting about a 19-hour shift, claiming he had never felt more alive. Giri Kuncoro, a software engineer who has previously worked at TikTok and focuses on cloud native infrastructure for artificial intelligence (AI) workloads, took to X (formerly Twitter) to share an update about his workday at the Elon Musk-owned AI firm.

"It's 5:30 am. Just closed my laptop after 19 hours of work today, my longest at xAI so far. I've never felt more alive," he wrote on X.

While some lauded his unwavering dedication to work, others criticised him for glorifying an exhausting hustle culture that many view as both toxic and entirely unsustainable.

"This is not a flex, 8 hours of sleep and working out daily will make you more productive than this slop," a user said while another added: "Not the smartest flex, but you do you."

A third commented: "Until you burn out and require years of your life to rebuild your mental capacity and immune system."

A fourth said: "You're doing work that will save civilisation. If you feel overwhelmed or start to feel burnout, just know the team at xAI are real life superheros."

Check The Viral Post Here:

It's 5:30 am. Just closed my laptop after 19 hours of work today—my longest at @xAI so far

I've never felt more alive

— Giri Kuncoro (@girikuncoro) March 5, 2026

Also Read | 'What An Eye-Opener': US Man Praises Indian Healthcare System, Says It's 'Far Superior' To The West

Mental Health Toll

Last month, Hieu Pham, an OpenAI employee who previously worked at xAI, posted on social media that he was quitting due to the mental health toll of the work.

"At these companies, I have helped creating extremely intelligent entities that will meaningfully improve our lives. The work makes me proud. But the intensive work came with a price," the techie wrote.

"I cannot believe I would say this one day, but I am burnt out. All the mental health deteriorating that I used to scoff at is real, miserable, scary, and dangerous."

Prior to him, Anthropic's head of the Safeguards Research Team, Mrinank Sharma, also resigned, saying that the "world is in peril", not just from AI or bioweapons, but from a "whole series of interconnected crises unfolding" currently.