this post was submitted on 30 Apr 2025
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Technology

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Duolingo will replace contract workers with AI (www.theverge.com)
submitted 22 hours ago by alyaza@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org
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Duolingo will “gradually stop using contractors to do work that AI can handle,” according to an all-hands email sent by cofounder and CEO Luis von Ahn announcing that the company will be “AI-first.” The email was posted on Duolingo’s LinkedIn account.

According to von Ahn, being “AI-first” means the company will “need to rethink much of how we work” and that “making minor tweaks to systems designed for humans won’t get us there.” As part of the shift, the company will roll out “a few constructive constraints,” including the changes to how it works with contractors, looking for AI use in hiring and in performance reviews, and that “headcount will only be given if a team cannot automate more of their work.”

von Ahn says that “Duolingo will remain a company that cares deeply about its employees” and that “this isn’t about replacing Duos with AI.” Instead, he says that the changes are “about removing bottlenecks” so that employees can “focus on creative work and real problems, not repetitive tasks.”

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[–] phorq@lemmy.ml 8 points 22 hours ago

That's weird, because their servers can't even seem to stay up long enough for any of the ai features in their app. It's why I gave up on their max subscription because it would require doing conversations and 9 times out of 10 it would just stop listening/processing halfway through.