Cognition, an AI coding startup, has laid off 30 Windsurf employees just weeks after acquiring the company. The remaining employees were offered buyouts amounting to nine months of salary. Windsurf has experienced significant turmoil, including losing key leaders to Google and nearly being acquired by OpenAI. Cognition had previously claimed that it was excited to retain Windsurf's talent, but it appears that the acquisition primarily focused on Windsurf's intellectual property. Employees who choose to stay face demanding work conditions including long hours.
According to an email The Information viewed, employees were given until August 10 to decide whether they want to take the buyout, which amounts to nine months of salary. Those who choose to stay are reportedly required to spend six days at the office and clock 80+ hour weeks - draconian conditions that have become table stakes among workers at top AI firms.
This is the latest bout of whiplash that Windsurf employees have faced after a tumultuous stretch for the company. The startup was initially almost acquired by OpenAI, then lost its CEO, co-founder, and research leads to Google in a $2.4 billion deal known as a reverse-acquihire.
Cognition stated that 100% of Windsurf employees would receive financial compensation as part of the deal and stressed that the company was excited to bring on Windsurf's 'world-class people' to develop top-notch coding tools.
Cognition CEO Scott Wu stated in an email, 'We don't believe in work-life balance - building the future of software engineering is a mission we all care so deeply about that we couldn't possibly separate the two.'
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