Three weeks after buying Windsurf, Cognition provides workers the exit door

Cognition, the AI coding startup that acquired rival firm Windsurf three weeks in the past, laid off 30 staff final week and is providing buyouts to the roughly 200 remaining staff on the workforce, reports The Information.

That is the bargain bout of whiplash that Windsurf staff have confronted after a tumultuous stretch for the corporate. The startup was initially virtually acquired by OpenAI, then misplaced its CEO, co-founder, and research leads to Google in a $2.4 billion deal often called a reverse-acquihire (the place Google employed the important thing expertise moderately than shopping for the corporate), earlier than finally getting acquired by Cognition.  

On the time of the acquisition, Cognition acknowledged that 100% of Windsurf staff would obtain monetary compensation as a part of the deal and stressed that the corporate was excited to carry on Windsurf’s “world-class individuals” to develop top-notch coding instruments. 

Now, it’s changing into clear that Windsurf’s mental property, not its expertise, was the actual purchase.

In response to an e mail The Info seen, staff got till August 10 to determine whether or not they need to take the buyout, which quantities to 9 months of wage. Those that select to remain are reportedly required to spend six days on the workplace and clock greater than 80-hour weeks — draconian circumstances which have develop into table stakes among workers at top AI firms. 

“We don’t imagine in work-life stability—constructing the way forward for software program engineering is a mission all of us care so deeply about that we couldn’t presumably separate the 2,” wrote Cognition CEO Scott Wu within the e mail.

TechCrunch has reached out to Cognition for extra particulars.

Acquired a delicate tip or confidential paperwork? We’re reporting on the interior workings of the AI business — from the businesses shaping its future to the individuals impacted by their choices. Attain out to Rebecca Bellan at rebecca.bellan@techcrunch.com and Maxwell Zeff at maxwell.zeff@techcrunch.com. For safe communication, you’ll be able to contact us through Sign at @rebeccabellan.491 and @mzeff.88.