Duolingo cuts contractors by 10% amid AI content shift

Duolingo, the maker of language-learning software, is cutting some contractors as the app uses generative artificial intelligence to create more content.

About 10% of contractors were “offboarded,” a company spokesperson said Monday. “We just no longer need as many people to do the type of work some of these contractors were doing. Part of that could be attributed to AI,” the spokesperson said.

CEO Luis von Ahn said during an August earnings call that the company is using generative AI to “speed up” scripts for the app “and to more efficiently scale our course content.” The company also uses AI to generate voices within the app and has introduced a premium tier, Duolingo Max, with AI-generated feedback and conversations in other languages.

The spokesperson said the job reduction isn’t a “straight replacement” of workers with AI, as many of its full-time employees and contractors use the technology in their work. Duolingo had 600 full-time workers at the end of 2022, according to company filings. The spokesperson added that no full-time employees were affected by the cutback.

The shares rose 3.4% to $211.09 at 12:15 p.m. in New York after more than tripling in 2023.