Luis von Ahn says small quality hits are a price worth paying to ride the wave

Duolingo has become the latest tech outfit to declare itself 'AI-first,' with CEO Luis von Ahn telling staff the biz will gradually phase out contractors for work AI can take over.

In the letter, which Duolingo shared on LinkedIn, von Ahn told employees the language-learning outfit would "gradually stop using contractors to do work that AI can handle," warning that "small hits on quality" were an acceptable price to pay for moving quickly in the AI arms race.

This isn't the first time the Pittsburgh-based biz has begun cutting contractors in favor of AI, having started shedding content creation roles last year — a move von Ahn referenced in his latest letter.

The CEO didn't explain in the letter which teams or projects would be affected by this latest round of replacing contractors with AI, and Duolingo didn't respond to questions for this story.

In addition to the ...