‘The rich aren’t particularly happy either’

• no one is happy Silicon ValleyMenlo Ventures partner Deedy Das says:

• Not the average tech worker, not the mid-level manager, not even the founders who made it rich.

• While the AI ​​boom is creating vast wealth, workers are facing an existential crisis, he said.

in San Francisco, artificial intelligence explosion creating fame, fortune and existential dread.

Deedy Das, a partner at venture capital firm Menlo Ventures, says a kind of machine-age malaise is emerging in San Francisco as rapid technological advances widen the gap between the haves and have-nots.

The fortunes of a small group of employees in leadership positions have changed in the last five years, Das said in a post on artificial intelligence companiesSome smaller startups, including Anthropic, OpenAI, and Nvidia, as well as some other smaller startups, have “skyrocketed.”

But it turns out that money doesn’t always buy happiness.

Those who felt this felt like a “profound” lack of purpose, Das wrote, watched as some saw their fortunes soar from less than $150,000 to more than $50 million in a matter of years.

“Life messes up your plans.”

Many reach that threshold at a young age, long before they expect to be financially ready, he said. He recalled asking a founder why they didn’t sell their company. Founder’s answer: If they sold, they would have money, but they would lose the care and attention that always came with building.

Meanwhile, the under-$500,000 bourgeoisie felt they were on a never-ending road, Das wrote. Like Layoffs spread across the industry – most recently at Cloudflare and Coinbase, both of which cited AI as the reason for cuts – as lucrative roles disappeared. “Many software engineers feel like their life skills are no longer useful,” he said.

In another wave of crisis, middle managers were also unhappy, Das wrote. “The Great Flattening” He looks up. “They see the writing on the wall: Middle management is being hollowed out in many companies.”

Instead, people are struck by a new kind of existential dread, Das said. “Am I in the right place? Should I move? Is there still time? Will I make it?” he wrote.

This other half also has a name: Many users in the answers called it the “permanent subclass.”

One possible solution: Move to New York. New York City-based tech blogger Packy McCormick responded to Das on X on Saturday, saying he was going to a kite festival in New York City amid sunny 70-degree weather.

“I didn’t hear the words ‘agent’ or ‘token’ once all morning,” McCormick wrote. “The most amazing city in the world.”