In fact, Merchant spoke to a former Duolingo contractor who said this isn’t even a new policy. The company [cut around 10% of its contractor workforce](https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/09/duolingo-cut-10-of-its-contractor-workforce-as-the-company-embraces-ai/) at the end of 2023, and Merchant said there was another round of cuts in October 2024. In both cases, contractors (first translators, then writers) were replaced with AI.
Merchant also noted reporting in The Atlantic around [the unusually high unemployment rate for recent college graduates](https://www.theatlantic.com/economy/archive/2025/04/job-market-youth/682641/). One explanation? Companies might be replacing entry-level white collar jobs with AI, or their spending on AI might simply be “crowding out” the spending for new hires.
This crisis, Merchant wrote, is really “a series of management decisions being made by executives seeking to cut labor costs and consolidate control in their organizations,” and it’s manifesting as “attrition in creative industries, the declining income of freelance artists, writers, and illustrators, and in corporations’ inclination to simply hire fewer human workers.”
thehoagieboy on
I suspect the people that are upset at this are happy to read AI generated content, view AI generated images, and use AI output for their schoolwork/jobs. What are we angry about exactly?
gerbilshoe on
Yes, and dont think this will lead to some Nirvana where we all have UBI and robots to do the work, You will be discarded and left to die. That is what we do to each other.
LeoLaDawg on
Be funny (in a sad way) if bad AI translations made their way into the live language, changing it slowly over time.
judgejuddhirsch on
Duolingo content was generated by bots for like 5 years.
Did people really think I hose “video chats” had a real human on the other sidre?
GatePorters on
It’s the face of an idiot CEO squeezing as much out of a company as possible before he kills it.
NoLimitSoldier31 on
I mean AI is incredibly powerful for languages. It makes a ton of sense for Duolingo to be heavy on AI
7 Comments
From the article
Duolingo announced plans this week to replace contractors with AI and [become an “AI-first” company](https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/duolingo-launches-148-courses-created-with-ai-after-sharing-plans-to-replace-contractors-with-ai/) — a move that [journalist Brian Merchant pointed to](https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/the-ai-jobs-crisis-is-here-now) as a sign that the AI jobs crisis “is here, now.”
In fact, Merchant spoke to a former Duolingo contractor who said this isn’t even a new policy. The company [cut around 10% of its contractor workforce](https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/09/duolingo-cut-10-of-its-contractor-workforce-as-the-company-embraces-ai/) at the end of 2023, and Merchant said there was another round of cuts in October 2024. In both cases, contractors (first translators, then writers) were replaced with AI.
Merchant also noted reporting in The Atlantic around [the unusually high unemployment rate for recent college graduates](https://www.theatlantic.com/economy/archive/2025/04/job-market-youth/682641/). One explanation? Companies might be replacing entry-level white collar jobs with AI, or their spending on AI might simply be “crowding out” the spending for new hires.
This crisis, Merchant wrote, is really “a series of management decisions being made by executives seeking to cut labor costs and consolidate control in their organizations,” and it’s manifesting as “attrition in creative industries, the declining income of freelance artists, writers, and illustrators, and in corporations’ inclination to simply hire fewer human workers.”
I suspect the people that are upset at this are happy to read AI generated content, view AI generated images, and use AI output for their schoolwork/jobs. What are we angry about exactly?
Yes, and dont think this will lead to some Nirvana where we all have UBI and robots to do the work, You will be discarded and left to die. That is what we do to each other.
Be funny (in a sad way) if bad AI translations made their way into the live language, changing it slowly over time.
Duolingo content was generated by bots for like 5 years.
Did people really think I hose “video chats” had a real human on the other sidre?
It’s the face of an idiot CEO squeezing as much out of a company as possible before he kills it.
I mean AI is incredibly powerful for languages. It makes a ton of sense for Duolingo to be heavy on AI