Stoking employees’ worst fears about being displaced by artificial intelligence (AI), language-learning technology company Duolingo Inc. says it will “gradually stop using contractors to do work that AI can handle.”
Preaching an “AI-first” approach that it initially began 18 months ago, Duolingo co-founder and CEO Luis van Ahn said in an all-hands email on the company’s LinkedIn account that Duolingo needs to “rethink much of how we work” and “making minor tweaks to systems designed for humans won’t get us there.”
The AI-first directive will necessitate rolling out “a few constructive constraints” that include changes to how Duolingo works with contractors, leveraging AI in hiring, and using the technology for performance reviews. “Headcount will only be given if a team cannot automate more of their work,” he wrote.
“AI isn’t just a productivity boost,” said von Ahn, who insisted Duolingo “remain a company that cares deeply about its employees” and that “this isn’t about replacing Duos with AI.”
“It helps us get closer to our mission,” he continued. “To teach well, we need to create a massive amount of content, and doing that manually doesn’t scale. One of the best decisions we made recently was replacing a slow, manual content creation process with one powered by AI. Without AI, it would take us decades to scale our content to more learners. We owe it to our learners to get them this content ASAP.”
For nearly two years, Duolingo has shed contractors who translate and write, and replaced them with some form of AI, according to published reports. In late 2023, Duolingo eliminated 10% of its contractors, followed by more cuts in late 2024.
The business strategy shift underscores growing anxiety among workers, particularly those in creative industries and manufacturing, that their job status will be impacted by non-human competition.
Regardless of the wording in van Ahn’s email, the message is clear and resounding for workforces worldwide as generative AI, AI agents, and eventually physical AI (robotics) take shape in the workplace and potentially threaten the jobs of humans, warn labor leaders. Increasingly, tech leaders are promising millions of digital workers that are glorified AI agents performing low-level tasks that not only will improve productivity but slash operational and labor costs.
The transition to AI agents is just starting, and slowly being rolled out over the next few years, analysts say. But it has had some tangible impact so far: The Atlantic recently noted an unusually high unemployment rate among recent college graduates as management moves to cut labor costs and consolidate operations. Labor conditions for recent college graduates “deteriorated noticeably” in the past few months, and the unemployment rate is now at 5.8%, according to the New York Federal Reserve.
