Working in A.I. Lifted Their Compensation. Now They Want Prenups.
[Special thanks to Joel C. Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.]
The A.I. frenzy is creating personal fortunes rarely seen in modern technology, changing people’s attitudes about fairness and money in relationships. Nearly 25 percent of people said higher compensation amid the A.I. boom had changed the way they split expenses with a partner, according to a survey of more than 1,000 people conducted last month by Blind, a forum where people can anonymously discuss work. About 9 percent of respondents said the A.I. boom had made them think differently about prenuptial agreements or financial protections.
Technology companies are paying A.I. employees premium salaries, with some researchers negotiating $250 million pay packages. Venture capitalists in Silicon Valley are raising billions of dollars to keep up with investments in A.I. start-ups. OpenAI, Anthropic and SpaceX, which recently merged with xAI, have taken steps toward initial public offerings. Those public listings alone could mint more than 16,000 millionaires, according to an estimate compiled by Sacra, which provides research on private markets.
For people working in tech, a prenup is often expected, said Lauren Lavender, chief marketing officer at HelloPrenup, a start-up that allows couples to create prenuptial agreements. It can be more surprising when a couple doesn’t get one, she added. Some tech workers who use HelloPrenup have equity compensation packages that are worth more than their base salaries.
“People in the Bay Area — because they work in an industry that could potentially be overtaken by A.I. — they’re fully aware of the assets that they have,” she said. “They have a lifestyle that they want to protect.”
“I definitely rely on her for emotional support,” Mr. Samant said. But since he started his company before he met Ms. Barojas, he said, he considers its financial success separate from their relationship.
For example, OpenAI is paying employees more than any other major tech start-up in history, The Wall Street Journal reported in December, with the company’s stock-based compensation alone reaching an average of $1.5 million per employee in 2025. (The New York Times has sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, over copyright infringement of news content. Both companies have denied wrongdoing.)
Highly paid employees are making relationship and money decisions amid uncertainty about whether their equity will crash or soar, whether their company will go public or be acquired and whether the A.I. bubble will burst. This uncertainty is a big reason technology employees gravitate toward prenups, said Sam Mockford, an associate wealth adviser at Citrine Capital based in San Francisco.
“A prenup is thinking about the near future and the far future and the what-if future,” she said. “And when you’re looking at equity, there’s a lot that’s variable about your future wealth.”
For more information see Kami Rieck “Working in A.I. Lifted Their Compensation. Now They Want Prenups.” The New York Times, February 14, 2026.