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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchDuolingo did not announce that it fired all its translators. It confirmed cutting around 10 percent of its contractor workforce at the end of 2023; contractors included people who wrote lessons and proposed translations. In February 2024, CEO Luis von Ahn said AI was probably the biggest reason for reducing the contractor workforce. A later reassurance that AI was not replacing employees referred to full-time staff—not contractors.
What happened to Duolingo’s contractors?
In January 2024, The Washington Post reported that Duolingo had reduced its contractor workforce in late 2023. A company spokesperson confirmed that around 10 percent of contractors had been cut by the end of the year. That is an approximate share, not a headcount, and the company did not say how many of those contractors were translators.
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The contractors’ work included writing lessons and proposing translations. Former workers told the Post that cuts affected teams working across dozens of language programs. The paper described separate waves: some contractors on less popular programs said they were affected in August 2023, followed by broader cuts in December. The available reporting does not establish a translator-only total or show that every translator was let go.
The Post reported that Duolingo had more than 700 full-time employees at the time. That is a contemporaneous 2024 figure, not a current headcount, and it should not be confused with the contractor reduction.
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Was AI the reason for the cuts?
The company’s explanation became clearer after the initial report. In February 2024, during Duolingo’s Q4 FY2023 earnings call, von Ahn said AI was probably the biggest reason for reducing the contractor workforce. He also described AI as supporting content creation and interactive learning features, including role-play and answer explanations. The earnings-call transcript records his distinction between contractor reductions and full-time employee layoffs.
In January, Duolingo spokesperson Sam Dalsimer had described AI as a productivity tool, saying the company sought to add content and improve courses faster. The company also said it tried to find alternate roles for every contractor. Former contractors interviewed by the Post gave a different account: some said they had not been offered another role. These are conflicting statements; the reporting does not resolve each worker’s experience.
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The company and former workers also disagreed over lesson quality. A former Russian-language contractor criticized the lessons, while Duolingo said users reported very few errors in that course. At the time of the January 2024 report, the company said fully AI-generated sentences had not yet been placed in courses. That was a dated statement, not a description of Duolingo’s current content process.
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| When | What Duolingo said or did | What it establishes |
|---|---|---|
| Late 2023, reported January 2024 | The company confirmed that around 10 percent of contractors had been cut. | An approximate share of contractors, not the number of people or translators affected. |
| February 28, 2024 | Von Ahn told investors AI was probably the biggest reason for the contractor reduction. | A direct acknowledgment of AI’s role in the workforce decision. |
| April 2025 | An employee memo set an “AI-first” direction and said Duolingo would gradually stop using contractors for work AI could handle, as reported by YourStory. | A forward policy explicitly addressing contractor work that can be automated. |
| Later 2025 | Von Ahn said the memo lacked clarity, that he did not see AI replacing employees, and that the company was continuing to hire at the same speed, in a clarification reproduced by LinkedIn News. | A reassurance about employees; it does not retract the contractor policy. |
The distinction matters: “employees” in the later clarification does not mean all workers. It addresses full-time staff, while the 2025 memo’s automation policy concerns contractors. The clarification is not evidence that contractor work would be preserved.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What Duolingo says about AI in its products now
Duolingo’s current company strategy page, accessed September 2026, describes AI-assisted expansion of course content and AI-supported features including Math and Video Call. The company also reports shipping 7,500 content units in 2024, compared with 425 in 2021, associating that growth with AI-enabled content generation in its strategy blog.
Those figures describe the company’s reported content output, not the share of lessons written by AI. The strategy page does not quantify what percentage of current course content is AI-generated or set out a complete human-review process. Neither figure should be inferred from the increase in content units.
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What is known—and what is not
- Established: Duolingo confirmed an approximate 10 percent reduction in contractors by the end of 2023, and its CEO later said AI was probably the biggest reason.
- Not established: The number of individuals affected, the number who were translators, or whether all translators—or all contractors in particular roles—were cut.
- Separate workforce categories: The reported reductions and later automation policy concern contractors. The CEO’s 2025 reassurance addressed full-time employees.
- Still unquantified: Duolingo has not stated in the cited current strategy material what percentage of lessons are AI-generated or described a complete current review protocol.
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