Duolingo has become the latest company to discover that relying too heavily on artificial intelligence, especially at the cost of human jobs can spark serious public backlash.
After facing criticism over plans to replace contractors with AI, the language-learning platform is now rethinking its strategy.
Just weeks ago, Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn announced a shift toward becoming an “AI-first” company, stating the company would start phasing out contract workers whose roles could be handled by artificial intelligence.
He even suggested that AI proficiency would become a key performance metric for staff, and new hires would only be considered when automation couldn’t fill the role.
Speaking on the No Priors podcast, von Ahn praised AI’s potential to revolutionize education, saying teachers would transition into supervisory roles while AI handled the actual instruction. He added that schools wouldn’t disappear entirely, largely because they still function as childcare spaces.
This wasn’t von Ahn’s first move in that direction—earlier in January 2024, Duolingo laid off 10% of its contract workforce, citing AI integration as the reason.
The reaction from users and the public, however, was swift and largely negative. A tone-deaf Instagram post attempting to clarify the company’s position only made things worse, with the top comment reading: “Call us old-fashioned, but we prefer our lessons to be taught by humans.”
Now, it appears Duolingo is doing some damage control. In a LinkedIn post offering what he called “more context,” von Ahn clarified that AI wouldn’t be replacing current employees, saying, “We are in fact continuing to hire at the same speed as before.” He framed AI as a tool to support and enhance human work—not eliminate it.
Duolingo isn’t alone in walking back aggressive AI plans. Buy-now-pay-later firm Klarna has resumed hiring people after mass layoffs linked to its AI rollout led to declining service quality. CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski admitted their chatbots failed to match the effectiveness of human agents.
Still, not all companies are retreating. Shopify recently instructed its managers to justify every hire by proving that a human could outperform AI for the role.
