The job cuts have sparked concerns among contractors and Duolingo users. Contractors, who already face job insecurity, are worried about AI replacing human workers. Duolingo users, on the other hand, fear that AI translations may lack the depth of understanding of languages, idiomatic expressions, and cultural nuances that human experts possess. The World Economic Forum’s 2023 Future of Jobs report predicts that AI will transform 23% of jobs in the next five years.
Key takeaways:
- Duolingo has cut around 10% of its contractor workforce, citing the use of AI models like OpenAI’s GPT-4 to streamline content production and translations.
- The company uses AI to translate sentences and then human experts validate the output quality. Duolingo also uses GPT-4 to power experiences for its premium subscription tier Duolingo Max, and has its own proprietary AI model, “Birdbrain” that personalizes lesson content.
- Contractors and Duolingo users have expressed concern over the job cuts, fearing that AI will replace human workers and that AI translations may lack the depth of understanding of languages, idiomatic expressions and cultural nuances that human experts provide.
- Duolingo disputed calling the departures “layoffs,” stating that only a “small minority” of contractors were let go as their projects wrapped up. However, they did confirm that improvements to content creation operations and the use of AI meant they no longer required as many people.