After Duolingo received a backlash from a memo from “AI-First” staff that was posted on LinkedIn this April, the company's CEO Luis von Ahn has set the record straight. Now, executives are doubling the idea that they don't intend to “dismiss humans.”
“This was on me. I didn't give enough context,” Von Ann said. New York Times In a recent interview when asked about a controversial note. “We've never fired a full-time employee. We don't plan.”
Just three months ago, the language learning platform, which has over 100 million users, emphasized “moving with urgency,” outlining an epic plan to achieve its goal of being an “AI-First” company.
The strategy included gradually reducing contractors to “do what work the AI can handle” and increasing staffing only if “the team cannot automate more work.” Von Ahn claimed that the AI First Memo had not drawn scrutiny from Duolingo staff, but the onlookers quickly took their weapons online.
Tech CEO also added that the change is not new. “From the start, there were contractors who used them for temporary tasks, and contractors went up and down according to their needs.”
Von Ahn added that work will likely change over the next five years due to AI, but again, that doesn't mean staff will be cut down on Duolingo.
“Maybe what happens is that you can achieve more, rather than giving birth to one less,” he said.
Now, Duolingo is beginning to encourage staff to use AI every week on Fridays, an activity called “Frai-Days.” Meanwhile, the Duolingo team is allowed to “experiment on ways to make AI use more efficient.”
AI displacement at work
Duolingo is not the only company to trim outsourcing and contractor roles as AI takes over the daily tasks. In mid-July, Scaleai fired about 500 contractors.
According to AI status in MIT's Business 2025 report, AI is primarily pushing out offshore roles rather than full-time domestic jobs. Reports show that outsourcing automation has a return on investment of between $2 million and $10 million.
And while 3% of jobs could now be replaced by AI, MIT told Axios that the figure could rise to almost a third of all jobs in the long run.
And while Duolingo claims it won't cut down on the full timer, not all tech companies have adopted that approach. Enterprise Software's powerhouse IgniteTech unlocked 80% of its staff as 80% of its staff were not adapting quickly enough to AI. The CEO says he will do that again today.
“In early 2023, we saw the light,” Ignitechech CEO Eric Vaughan told Fortune, adding that he believes all tech companies face important inflection points regarding the adoption of artificial intelligence. “Now, I have certainly changed to believe this is all companies. I mean literally every company faces an existential threat from this transformation.”
