The arrival of ChatGPT at the end of 2022 has rekindled concerns that certain tasks, previously reserved for humans, will be entrusted to machines. The meteoric rise of generative artificial intelligence has some executives salivating, enticed by promises of productivity gains and staff savings. These promises can also turn into a pipe dream and a social drain. According to the site Layoffs.fyi, 549 tech companies have eliminated more than 150,000 positions in 2024. The counter has exceeded 50,000 since the beginning of the year.
AI obsession
Duolingo wants to become an "AI first" company. For CEO Luis von Ahn, it's not a question of "if," but "when." "When a change of this magnitude occurs, the worst thing to "The only thing we can do is wait," he wrote in a memo posted on LinkedIn. "In 2012, we bet on mobile. While others were focusing on mobile apps to accompany their websites, we chose to prioritize mobile first because we knew it was the future." Betting on mobile was the right thing to do. Therefore, "we are making a similar bet today, and this time, the platform change is AI," explains the boss of the language learning app. Duolingo will therefore "gradually" stop using service providers "for tasks that AI can take over." Job creations will only be authorized “if a team can’t automate more of its work,” he also warns.
Each Duolingo division will also have to launch “specific initiatives” to transform the way they operate. We should expect serious internal upheaval, because “being AI-driven means we will have to fundamentally rethink how we work.” And there’s no question of waiting until the technology is “perfectly mature.” : we will have to accept "some occasional losses in quality," he admits. But there is no question of "missing the opportunity by moving too slowly."
Will Duolingo users, especially those who pay, be happy with this development? That remains to be seen, of course. For the company itself and its employees, the outlook is certainly not very encouraging.
Luis von Ahn's memo echoes that of his Shopify counterpart, Tobi Lütke. He asked his teams to demonstrate why they can't achieve their goals using AI, before requesting additional hires or resources. "What would our industry look like if autonomous AI agents were already part of the team?" the executive asks. "This question can lead to really interesting discussions and projects," he continues.
Shopify, which offers merchants an online service to manage sales and operations, will consider the use of generative AI in employee performance reviews.
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