Indian-origin exec at Elon Musk’s xAI reacts after techie works 36 hours straight with no sleep

An Indian-origin executive at xAI has reacted publicly after one of the startup’s employees claimed to have worked 36 hours straight with no sleep.

An Indian-origin executive at xAI has reacted publicly after one of the startup’s employees claimed to have worked 36 hours straight with no sleep. Ayush Jaiswal reacted to a viral post from xAI’s Parsa Tajik, who on November 28 wrote: “Last night I left the @xai office after ~36 hours of working with no sleep. Although I was dead, I was also super energized. Incredibly grateful to be a part of this team. Happy Thanksgiving!”

Ayush Jaiswal is a member of the Grok team at xAI and the former head of growth at Scale AI.

Tajik is a member of the technical staff at xAI, the artificial intelligence startup founded by Elon Musk.

“Work life balance is great…”

Parsa Tajik’s post on working 36 hours straight without a nap sparked criticism and condemnation, with many calling it a sign of a toxic workplace.

However, Ayush Jaiwal, a member of the Grok team at xAI and formerly the head of growth at Scale AI, reacted to Tajik’s post with implicit approval. (Also read: Indian-origin techie reveals what it's really like working in Elon Musk’s xAI office in Palo Alto)

“Work life balance is great, in-fact we recommend it to all our competitors,” Jaiswal wrote. As if perhaps sensing the disapproval that would soon come his way, the Indian-origin executive added a disclaimer: “Don’t be angry with this post. You’re free to disagree & let us cook.”

And if Jaiswal’s advice on work-life balance sounds familiar, it’s because he was borrowing the words of another Indian man — Zepto CEO Aadit Palicha.

In 2024, Palicha had shared a humorous take on the work-life balance debate. “I have nothing against work-life balance. In fact, I recommend it to all our competitors,” he wrote on X.

Palicha later sought to distance himself from this controversial take. During the Y Combinator podcast, he told CEO Garry Tan that the post was a “stupid idea”.