An AI intern at a startup was unexpectedly fired after sending a WhatsApp message requesting a performance-based raise. Despite building the company’s Small Language Model (SLM) infrastructure from scratch, cutting inference costs by 95%, and securing seven clients, the intern's negotiation attempt was treated as a personal betrayal. The manager abruptly terminated the internship, citing a "mismatch in expectations," while the CEO later lectured the student for being "money-minded." Refusing to beg for the low-paying role, the intern now plans to demand their experience certificate and walk away from the toxic startup culture.The intern shared that the CEO gave the student a 30-minute lecture. (Representative image). (Pexels)“Fired from my internship over a single WhatsApp Message,” the Reddit user wrote.Also Read: Fast-food worker says he was fired after just 3 hours for being too slow: 'I guess you're not allowed to make mistakes'The intern at a tiny six-person startup was abruptly fired after she sent a WhatsApp message requesting a performance-based raise. The student had heavily optimised the company's technical stack, sharing, “I basically built their entire Small Language Model (SLM) infrastructure from scratch... cut their inference costs by 95%, and even got them 7+ clients.”Instead of offering a counter-proposal, management panicked and downplayed the achievement as mere test campaigns. The intern lamented, “They literally fired me for a negotiation text, completely disregarding 4 months of heavy-lifting code when they could have simply said ‘we can only do X amount' and I would have happily agreed.”The situation worsened when the CEO lectured the student for 30 minutes about "startup culture," calling them "money-minded" and claiming the text "broke the manager's heart." Refusing to beg for a low-paying role where standard business discussions are treated as personal betrayals, the intern now plans to demand their formal experience certificate and walk away completely.How did social media react?An individual wrote, “Dude, chill, always set your standards high, don’t let anyone downplay you. If they lost you, it’s their loss. Move forward with your knowledge. Try outside, you still have time and you are young.”Another added, “To all people who are working on these shiny new startups. Never ever work for free or without an employment contract. You are being abused.” A third commented, “Just narcissists playing with a student. The kanjoos really do have so much audacity.”Also Read: Techie claims startup made fresh graduates sleep on office floor, then fired them without pay: 'Treated like garbage'A fourth expressed, “CEO gonna call again when he realises he can't do shit without you.” The OP responded, “He is just having FOMO thinking everything can be vibe coded with AI and that will get him funding.”(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. Hindustantimes.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)