Duolingo has announced plans to replace its contractor workforce with artificial intelligence technologies, positioning itself as an “AI-first” company. This move has sparked a wider discussion about the emerging AI jobs crisis, which many observers believe is already underway.
According to journalist Brian Merchant, Duolingo’s approach to swapping human contractors for AI systems isn’t entirely new; the firm began reducing its contractor workforce significantly as far back as late 2023 and made further reductions in October 2024. Initially impacting translators, later rounds of cuts affected writing staff, with machine-driven solutions stepping in to fill those roles.
Merchant also highlighted recent concerns about the unusually high unemployment rates among recent college graduates, as reported by other media outlets. This diminished entry-level hiring trend could partly be attributed to companies increasingly automating junior-level white-collar roles through AI, or because investment in AI technology itself is limiting budget space for new human employees.
Far from a distant or sci-fi scenario, Merchant characterized the AI jobs crisis as fundamentally driven by corporate decisions, where executives looking to cut labor costs and maximize control opt for automated solutions over human labor. As a result, industries traditionally dependent on creativity and freelance contributions—such as writers, illustrators, and other artistic professionals—are experiencing notable income declines and fewer job opportunities.
Merchant made clear that this crisis should not be mistaken for an apocalyptic threat from autonomous robots, but rather understood as a consequence of management-driven choices to streamline costs through AI. He cited examples such as the tech company DOGE, which laid off numerous federal employees to aggressively adopt its “AI-first strategy,” depicting this action as underscoring the immediate and very tangible impacts of such corporate strategies.
Duolingo’s announcement, therefore, serves not just as a single company’s business pivot but as a signal of broader economic and labor shifts toward artificial intelligence, with implications that may reach deep into the future job market for human workers across multiple sectors.
