"Variations on the format typically depict a woman working hard at a laptop, with a caption explaining that she's burning out so "her man" can run an AI startup that " loses $30K a month." It feels like there's a serious side to the jokes, since they come in the dark shadow of many grim stories about the tech colliding with established relationships, from breaking up marriages to facilitating infidelity."
"Yana van der Meulen Rodgers, chair of labor studies and employment relations at Rutgers University, told Wired that it comes down to what economists call the "ideal worker": career obsessives who believe that pausing - even for just five minutes - will result in a lack of productivity. The phenomenon isn't exclusive to the AI era. Take the Gold Rush, for example, when American men left their families to travel west, work, and profit quickly."
""Someone who works many hours, giving all of themselves to this new force," Rodgers told Wired. "That means less time at home for the partner, less time for care work." For women, this can result in feelings of being unheard, and many of these sad wives are turning to therapists for support."
"Consulting a series of family counselors, Wired found evidence that it's a very real phenomenon that's only getting worse. In addition to abandonment, these women are also forced to ride the emotional roller coaster of the nascent and chaotic industry. "With job loss comes some depression," Rodgers told Wired. "Within the household, if one person is going through adverse mental health e"
Viral memes portray AI as worsening cishet relationship dynamics by pushing partners into burnout to support AI startups that lose money. Coverage links these patterns to “ideal worker” expectations that discourage pausing, even briefly, to maintain productivity. This leads to fewer hours at home and less time for care work, leaving partners feeling unheard. Women experiencing these shifts often seek therapy and family counseling, with evidence that the problem is real and worsening. Job loss and instability contribute to depression, and household emotional strain grows when one person faces adverse mental health.
Read at Futurism
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