Duolingo says it will use AI instead of hiring contract workers

Courtesy: Reuters

Remember when we used to wonder if AI would ever take our jobs? Well, that future is no longer far off—it’s here. Duolingo, the popular language learning app, has just announced that it’s starting to replace contract workers with AI.

In an internal email, Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn declared that the company is going “AI-first,” calling the technology a major platform shift—just like mobile was a decade ago. “AI is already changing how work gets done,” von Ahn wrote. “It’s not a question of if or when. It’s happening now.”

The company has already started using AI to speed up the content creation process, which von Ahn says would have otherwise taken “decades” to scale manually. This has helped them develop new features—like video call-based lessons—that were previously impossible. Now, AI will not only be used to improve productivity, but also evaluated as part of performance reviews and hiring decisions.

One of the biggest impacts of this decision is that Duolingo plans to gradually stop using contractors for any work that AI can handle. The company says this move will allow its full-time employees—referred to as “Duos”—to focus on more creative and complex tasks instead of repetitive ones.

While von Ahn insists that Duolingo will continue to care deeply for its staff and support them through the transition, the message is clear: AI isn’t coming for jobs, it’s already taking them. And Duolingo may just be one of the first major companies to admit it openly.

For many, this announcement feels like a wake-up call. The AI era has arrived—and it’s not waiting for anyone to catch up.