AI 让硅谷一小撮人暴富，其余人则质疑奋斗的意义

2026-05-16 16:48·47天前·Matthias Bastian

AI 摘要

据风险投资公司合伙人透露，AI繁荣使Anthropic、OpenAI、xAI、Meta和Nvidia中约1万人积累了超过2000万美元的财富。与此同时，硅谷其他从业者感到被时代抛弃，中层管理者感觉被掏空，即便是成功者也面临“深刻的使命感缺失”困境。AI浪潮加剧了硅谷的财富与机会分化。

原文 · 未翻译

AI made a tiny slice of Silicon Valley filthy rich and left the rest wondering why they bother

Around 10,000 people in Silicon Valley have amassed fortunes north of $20 million thanks to the AI boom. Everyone else feels left behind. A venture capitalist paints a picture of an industry caught between gold rush euphoria and existential dread.

The mood in San Francisco is "frenetic," and the gap in financial outcomes is "the worst I've ever seen." That's how Deedy Das, a partner at venture capital firm Menlo Ventures, describes the current state of affairs at the epicenter of the AI industry. Society inside this tech bubble is warped, he says: what counts as wealthy anywhere else in the world is just average in San Francisco.

According to Das, a group of roughly 10,000 people have built fortunes well above $20 million over the past five years—employees at Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI, Meta TBD, and Nvidia, plus founders. OpenAI alone reportedly turned 75 people into multimillionaires worth $30 million each last fall.

Everyone outside that circle feels like they could spend an entire career at their "well-paying (but <$500k) job for their whole life and never get there." At the same time, layoffs are in full swing. Many software engineers feel like their core skills have become worthless, according to Das.

The career ladder leads to the wrong building

Das outlines the consequences of this divide. The traditional career ladder feels like "the wrong building to climb." Everyone is scrambling to find new paths: Should I start a company? Is it too late to join Anthropic or OpenAI? Should I pivot to AI? Which stock is going to 10x next? Demands for higher pay and willingness to jump ship are both rising.

Das describes a "deep malaise" around work and its future. "Why even work at all for peanuts?" some are asking, he says. Talk of a "permanent underclass" is spreading, especially among younger workers. "It's hard to focus on doing good work when you think 'man, if I joined Anthropic 2yrs ago, I could retire.'"

Mid-level managers feel paralyzed. Many have families and lack the energy or the network to just go start a company. They don't bring any special AI skills to the table. "They see the writing on the wall: middle management is being hollowed out in many companies," Das writes.

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AI 让硅谷一小撮人暴富，其余人则质疑奋斗的意义

2026-05-16 16:48·47天前·Matthias Bastian

阅读原文· the-decoder.com

AI 摘要

原文 · 保持原样，未翻译

AI made a tiny slice of Silicon Valley filthy rich and left the rest wondering why they bother