Duolingo will replace contract workers with AI

Duolingo co-founder and CEO Luis von Ahn. | Photo: Getty Images

Duolingo volition “gradually halt utilizing contractors to bash enactment that AI tin handle,” according to an all-hands email sent by co-founder and CEO Luis von Ahn announcing that the institution volition beryllium “AI-first.” The email was posted connected Duolingo’s LinkedIn account.

According to von Ahn, being “AI-first” means the institution volition “need to rethink overmuch of however we work” and that “making insignificant tweaks to systems designed for humans won’t get america there.” As portion of the shift, the institution volition rotation retired “a fewer constructive constraints,” including the changes to however it works with contractors, looking for AI usage successful hiring and successful show reviews, and that “headcount volition lone beryllium fixed if a squad cannot automate much of their work.”

von Ahn says that “Duolingo volition stay a institution that cares profoundly astir its employees” and that “this isn’t astir replacing Duos with AI.” Instead, helium says that the changes are “about removing bottlenecks” truthful that employees tin “focus connected originative enactment and existent problems, not repetitive tasks.”

“AI isn’t conscionable a productivity boost,” von Ahn says. “It helps america get person to our mission. To thatch well, we request to make a monolithic magnitude of content, and doing that manually doesn’t scale. One of the champion decisions we made precocious was replacing a slow, manual contented instauration process with 1 powered by AI. Without AI, it would instrumentality america decades to standard our contented to much learners. We beryllium it to our learners to get them this contented ASAP.”

von Ahn’s email follows a akin memo Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke sent to employees and precocious shared online. In that memo, Lütke said that earlier teams asked for much headcount oregon resources, they needed to amusement “why they cannot get what they privation done utilizing AI.”

Here’s the substance of von Ahn’s memo from Duolingo’s LinkedIn post:

I’ve said this successful Q&As and galore meetings, but I privation to marque it official: Duolingo is going to beryllium AI-first.

AI is already changing however enactment gets done. It’s not a question of if oregon when. It’s happening now. When there’s a displacement this big, the worst happening you tin bash is wait. In 2012, we stake connected mobile. While others were focused connected mobile companion apps for websites, we decided to physique mobile-first due to the fact that we saw it was the future. That determination helped america triumph the 2013 iPhone App of the Year and unlocked the integrated word-of-mouth maturation that followed.

Betting connected mobile made each the difference. We’re making a akin telephone now, and this clip the level displacement is AI.

AI isn’t conscionable a productivity boost. It helps america get person to our mission. To thatch well, we request to make a monolithic magnitude of content, and doing that manually doesn’t scale. One of the champion decisions we made precocious was replacing a slow, manual contented instauration process with 1 powered by AI. Without AI, it would instrumentality america decades to standard our contented to much learners. We beryllium it to our learners to get them this contented ASAP.

AI besides helps america physique features similar Video Call that were intolerable to physique before. For the archetypal clip ever, teaching arsenic good arsenic the champion quality tutors is wrong our reach.

Being AI-first means we volition request to rethink overmuch of however we work. Making insignificant tweaks to systems designed for humans won’t get america there. In galore cases, we’ll request to commencement from scratch. We’re not going to rebuild everything overnight, and immoderate things-like getting AI to recognize our codebase-will instrumentality time. However, we can’t hold until the exertion is 100% perfect. We’d alternatively determination with urgency and instrumentality occasional tiny hits connected prime than determination dilatory and miss the moment.

We’ll beryllium rolling retired a fewer constructive constraints to assistance usher this shift:

We’ll gradually halt utilizing contractors to bash enactment that AI tin handle

AI usage volition beryllium portion of what we look for successful hiring

AI usage volition beryllium portion of what we measure successful show reviews

Headcount volition lone beryllium fixed if a squad cannot automate much of their work

Most functions volition person circumstantial initiatives to fundamentally alteration however they work

All of this said, Duolingo volition stay a institution that cares profoundly astir its employees. This isn’t astir replacing Duos with AI. It’s astir removing bottlenecks truthful we tin bash much with the outstanding Duos we already have. We privation you to absorption connected originative enactment and existent problems, not repetitive tasks. We’re going to enactment you with much training, mentorship, and tooling for AI successful your function.

Change tin beryllium scary, but I’m assured this volition beryllium a large measurement for Duolingo. It volition assistance america amended present connected our ngo — and for Duos, it means staying up of the curve successful utilizing this exertion to get things done.

–Luis