As San Francisco’s cost of living skyrockets amid the AI boom, the merely super rich are feeling squeezed by the outrageously rich.
For the average San Franciscan, seeing two-bedroom apartments rent for $7000 a month can seem like a calamity. However, in the current influx of wealth into the Bay Area, those are rookie numbers. A cofounder of Elon Musk’s xAI recently purchased a mansion in Hillsborough for an eye-popping $70M.
San Francisco resident Johnny Yang thought he had secured a comfortable future after Berry.ly, the enterprise software company he cofounded, sold for $1.2 billion. But his elation quickly turned to dismay.
“After I bought the customary sports car, private plane, and yacht, I started looking for a house. And my god, the market is insane now. A decent 4 bedroom in Pac Heights goes for $20 million dollars!” He rubbed his eyes in exasperation. “I’m not sure I can afford to keep living in San Francisco with just a few hundred million dollars.”
It’s not just big purchases that have gotten more expensive. As employees at AI foundation labs liquidate their equity through tender offers, their spending has caused prices of basic necessities to skyrocket, including meal prep by personal chefs, childcare from unionized nannies, and coaching from nationally ranked pickleball players.
Mr. Yang currently spends his time doing ceramics and hanging out with other post-economic tech workers. Still, he worries that his savings may not be enough to sustain his retirement from tech.
“Everyone on Twitter jokes that if you’re not working at Anthropic or OpenAI, you’re going to end up in the permanent underclass,” he said. “I might need to get a job at Anthropic just to make ends meet. I think having another $100M would be enough to feel more financially secure.”
He shook his head.
“It feels degrading. These new money AI billionaires have no respect for us old money SaaS millionaires.”
At press time, Mr. Yang was considering moving to a more affordable part of the Bay Area, such as Tiburon or Atherton.