Was She Fired Just for Asking for a Salary Raise?

A post shared by an Artificial Intelligence engineering intern has sparked a major debate on social media about startup work culture and the treatment of interns. The tech professional alleged that her internship was terminated after she sent a WhatsApp message requesting a stipend revision. The incident has since become a widely discussed topic in the technology community.

According to the intern, she joined a small startup as an AI engineering intern for a six month program and was receiving a very low stipend. Despite being the only person in the company's technical division, she developed a complete Small Language Model (SLM), optimized system performance by reducing latency, and helped the startup acquire seven new clients. After successfully completing three months, she requested a stipend increase, as promised during onboarding.

However, her manager reportedly rejected the request, stating that such a hike was not possible for a student. A few days later, she received an email informing her that her internship was being terminated due to a mismatch in expectations. She also claimed that the company's CEO criticized her for being “money minded” during a 30 minute discussion. The post has gone viral, with many technology professionals and social media users expressing support for the intern and criticizing exploitative workplace practices.