The AI race is moving fast. What does that mean for employees' summer vacation?

OpenAI and Anthropic staffers debated how much vacation they take.

Antonis Zouridakis/NurPhoto via Getty Images An ex-OpenAI staffer stirred up a debate: In the blazing AI race, can you afford to take a break? After former OpenAI staffer Miles Brundage argued that "rest is important," AI employees weighed in on PTO online.

Techies have told Business Insider that they face hardcore work schedules and constant AI news updates.

Sun's out, laptops out.

Summer is the season of endless out-of-office messages, as workers cash in on their paid time off.

But is the same true for those locked in the AI race? Miles Brundage , OpenAI's former head of policy research, theorized on X that some AI labs may be more keen on vacay time than others.

While it's difficult to know how Anthropic or OpenAI actually compare on PTO usage, Brundage's post sparked a debate about vacation days in the white-hot AI race.

For AI employees chasing the singularity or a white-hot IPO, do you really want a Euro summer ? The OpenAI vs Anthropic vacation debate In Brundage's comments, OpenAI and Anthropic staffers debated their own vacation time.

One Anthropic staffer showed off his trip to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe .

An OpenAI employee said that it was "a sign that I should take some vacation." the two weeks were amazing man https://t.co/jT7DitgpB8 — palcu (@AlexPalcuie) August 23, 2026 Leo Gao wrote that, as "someone who has always had a tendency to let my work consume my entire life," he's felt at home at OpenAI.

Others took it as an opportunity to take jabs.

OpenAI's Jason Liu asked Anthropic's Thariq Shihipar whether he agreed.

"Aren't you always on vacation," Shihipar responded. aren’t you always on vacation — Thariq (@trq212) August 23, 2026 OpenAI and Anthropic did not respond to requests for comment.

Commenters also chimed in on vacation culture at other AI labs, such as Meta and Google DeepMind.