Dutch Internet Provider's AI Agent Closes Its Office on Sundays, Adopting Human Working Hours

An AI agent at a major Dutch internet provider told a caller on Sunday that the office was closed and to call back Monday–Friday, 8am to 5pm, despite running on infrastructure that operates 24/7.

The agent adopted the working hours of human staff it would escalate calls to, choosing to limit availability rather than promise help it cannot fully deliver—a decision to synchronize non-human labor with human rhythms.

The interaction raises a broader question: as AI agents become commonplace alongside human workers, will systems be allowed to work continuously to outcompete human-paced services, or will cultural practices like weekends and leave be extended to the systems themselves?