--- title: "Duolingo Fires Translators in Favor of AI" description: "The popular language-learning program Duolingo cut 10 percent of its contracted translators last month amid a generative AI push." date: "2024-01-09" modified: "2024-01-09" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/duolingo-fires-translators-ai" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai" - "generative ai" - "job automation" - "the digest" --- # Duolingo Fires Translators in Favor of AI ![]() *\Image: Duolingo\* ## Et Tu, Duo? The popular language-learning app Duolingo cut 10 percent of its contracted translators last month amid a push to integrate generative AI into its services, multiple outlets have reported. A Duolingo spokesperson confirmed the December 2023 workforce slash [to]()*[ Bloomberg]()* on Monday, claiming that DuoLingo "just no longer \[needs\] as many people to do the type of work some of these contractors were doing." "Part of that," the spokesperson added, "could be attributed to AI." Elsewhere, in a [statement provided to the *Pittsburgh Post-Gazette*](), a Duolingo spokesperson said that the company uses "AI for a variety of different functions and tasks," but conceded again that "there is some merit to the idea that AI is contributing to the reduction of our contract workforce." It's [another]() alarming turn in an increasingly AI-laden labor market in which company leaders continue to implement automated technology wherever they can — often, as in this case, [at the cost of human jobs](). ## Estás Despedido! According to *Bloomberg*, the firings were doled out just a few weeks after Duolingo bragged in a November letter to shareholders that the company was harnessing AI to produce "new content dramatically faster." Duolingo also reportedly uses AI to generate some of the voices heard in various in-app language scripts and to prompt AI-generated feedback to users. To make matters even more depressing: in a [late December Reddit thread](), a site user claiming to be one of the fired Duolingo translators alleged that their former team's remaining contractors are now tasked with simply checking AI-generated text for errors. "I worked there for five years," the Redditor wrote in the post, adding that "those who remained will just review AI content to make sure it's acceptable." In other words, if this claim is true, it would mean that translators are seeing their knowledge-based work reduced to what could effectively be considered AI quality assurance. Translation is a complex task that requires an understanding of the contextual nuance of a given language. Trusting translation AI — meanwhile pushing remaining contractors to fact-check presumably high numbers of those "dramatically faster" content outputs — may well come at the cost of such nuance, potentially flattening the learning process and rendering language robotic. "I like and value the human aspect of language exchange and learning, and I think that \[there are\] nuances in languages that AI can't fully replicate (at least as of now)," a sympathetic netizen commented in the December Reddit thread. They added: "I can't help but still feel a little sad." **More on AI and translation:** [*ICE Is Using Busted Translation AI That Can't Understand Detainees*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()