Technology and Science · 16 May, 2026 · 2 min read
San Francisco AI Boom Leaves 10,000 OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, Nvidia Workers With $20 Million Fortunes
About 10,000 San Francisco-area AI workers have fortunes exceeding $20 million. AI boom described as a billionaire-making machine concentrating wealth among a few.
Whether crypto is positioned as an opportunity from layoffs.
4 of 5 outlets skipped it: zillow cites San Francisco median rent at $3,526 per month..
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TechCrunch
“layoffs are in full swing, and many software engineers feel that their life’s skill”Read the original ↗
Only Bitget reframes displaced workers toward crypto; others emphasize malaise and uncertainty.
AI wealth gap widens
In San Francisco, Menlo Ventures partner Deedy Das described the AI boom as creating “the divide in outcomes is the worst I’ve ever seen,” while he said “About 10,000 employees” at companies including OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, and Nvidia have built personal fortunes of over $20 million in five years. Das framed the mood as “pretty frenetic right now,” and said the rest of the workforce is left wondering why they “bother,” with layoffs “in full swing” and “many software engineers feel like their core skills have become worthless.”
A separate account of the same debate echoed Das’s estimate that roughly 10,000 people have built fortunes “north of $20 million,” while “Everyone outside that circle feels left behind.” The Decoder also reported that OpenAI “reportedly turned 75 people into multimillionaires worth $30 million each last fall,” adding a specific example to Das’s broader picture of concentrated gains.
Crypto pitch amid layoffs
Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley told tech employees facing AI-driven job anxiety to consider crypto, arguing that “the industrys messy problems create the kind of opportunity ambitious engineers should chase.”
Horsley compared the move to joining OpenAI before mainstream adoption was clear, and he told workers that “Fine. But crypto needs you. We need talented, professional, pragmatic people,” in a pitch that arrived inside a broader Silicon Valley conversation about layoffs.
The Bitget-linked report also said investors and founders are describing a workforce reshaped by automation and “widening wealth divides,” while it cited Bloomberg’s framing that AI agent costs are now outpacing human salaries at several companies.B
It further tied the career reset to domain overlap, quoting Bloomberg’s reference to Paul Przybylski, JPMorgan Asset Management’s global head of product for digital and tokenized assets, as Big Tech and Wall Street roles increasingly seek hybrid talent.
Housing pressure and stakes
La Razón described an AI “gold rush” that minted a concentrated class of “the new rich,” and it tied the immediate pressure to housing costs in cities where the fortunes are being created. The outlet cited Zillow figures saying the median rent in San Francisco is now $3,526 per month, $176 more than last year, and that in New York it rises to $3,800.
In parallel, TechCrunch reported that Das’s post prompted pushback on X, including entrepreneur Deva Hazarika arguing that “most of the people in this post” are “incredibly fortunate and can simply make a choice to be happy.” TAcross the debate, the stakes were framed as both career risk and economic strain, with Das warning that “layoffs are in full swing” and that many engineers fear their skills are no longer useful, while La Razón said the billionaire boom is “charging all of us the bill.”