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Duolingo will replace contract workers with AI (www.theverge.com)

submitted 4 days 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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[–] themurphy@lemmy.ml 9 points 4 days ago (11 children)

Okay, real talk guys. If there's one thing LLM's actually CAN do, its language and translation. The best ones are also great at context.

You sound a bit like people yelling at companies for laying off typewriter manufactures when the computer came along.

And we are in the technology community..

[–] projectmoon@lemm.ee 11 points 4 days ago

The problem is that while LLMs can translate, it's still machine translation and isn't always accurate. It's also not going to just be for that. It'll be applying "AI" to everything that looks like it might vaguely fit, and it'll stifle productivity.

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