Duolingo Cuts Some Contractors, Replaced by AI Instead

Duolingo has announced a reduction in its contractor workforce, attributing the decision partly to the increased use of generative artificial intelligence in content creation.

Approximately 10% of the company’s contractors were offboarded, as confirmed by a company spokesperson on Monday to Bloomberg.

Duolingo offers a mobile app that lets anyone learn a new language easily, by gamifying the experience. It’s a free app that’s powered by an in-app purchase to remove ads. There’s also a premium tier called Duolingo Max that includes AI-generated feedback powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4.

The spokesperson explained that the need for certain types of work performed by these contractors has diminished, partly due to the integration of AI technologies. AI is replacing jobs, folks, and we all knew this was coming.

Duolingo’s CEO, Luis von Ahn, had previously mentioned in an August earnings call the company’s use of generative AI to accelerate script production and scale course content more efficiently. The AI is also being used to generate voices within the app.

However, the spokesperson clarified that the job reductions are not a direct replacement of human workers with AI. Many of the company’s full-time employees and contractors continue to utilize AI in their roles. As of the end of 2022, Duolingo had 600 full-time workers, and the spokesperson assured that no full-time employees were impacted by the recent cutbacks.