It’s been a whirlwind few days for AI-related job displacement, with the news of several companies using AI to partially create images for promotional purposes and receiving criticism as a result. Magic: The Gathering, Xbox’s indie games division, and even art drawing tablet company Wacom have all been caught up in this discussion. However, the latest company to find itself in the spotlight is Duolingo: the leading language translation app.
Reports are surfacing that Duolingo has “offboarded” a significant number of its contract translators, with one commenter sharing an email from Duolingo that read, “Here’s the final email I got two weeks ago. Just in case you wanted to see it. I worked there for five years. Our team had four core members and two of us got the boot. The two who remained will just review AI content to make sure it’s acceptable.” This has been met with a lot of criticism, with many people finding the insensitivity of the email jarring.
Duolingo has been experimenting with AI for some time, with a blog post from September 2023 stating, “At Duolingo, we’re well versed in the use of AI. It’s literally baked into everything we do — from personalizing your language lessons, to underpinning cutting edge security features on the DET, our high stakes English test, to helping you learn music with our brand new course.”
The company claims that the layoffs were not in fact layoffs, but simply the end of completed projects. They also said that the majority of their workers have been retained. However, this still sends a worrying message to onlookers, as it is symbolic of AI job replacements, which is one of the technology’s most feared effects.
The use of AI in the workplace has been a hot topic in recent days, and it’s a great reminder of the potential of this technology; if used carefully and with the right intentions, AI can be an incredibly powerful tool. At the same time, it’s also a reminder of the need for caution when dealing with AI technology, as the implications for human workers can be far-reaching. So let’s use AI for the good of humanity, and take care not to misuse it!
