Despite China's 996 culture, DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng says his workers don't do overtime or even have KPIs: ‘No one manages them’

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In just three years, DeepSeek has gone from an unknown startup to a $60 billion AI powerhouse. The ChatGPT rival has had around 173 million downloads since it launched to the public in January 2025. And its founder Liang Wenfeng says he did it all without a single KPI or late-night shifts from his team.

“We generally don’t work overtime,” Liang revealed in a nearly four-hour discussion session with staff, obtained and transcribed by Tencent Technology.