Technology

38594 readers

373 users here now

A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.

Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 3 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

110

Duolingo will replace contract workers with AI (www.theverge.com)

submitted 2 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

31 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Duolingo will “gradually stop using contractors to do work that AI can handle,” according to an all-hands email sent by cofounder and CEO Luis von Ahn announcing that the company will be “AI-first.” The email was posted on Duolingo’s LinkedIn account.

According to von Ahn, being “AI-first” means the company will “need to rethink much of how we work” and that “making minor tweaks to systems designed for humans won’t get us there.” As part of the shift, the company will roll out “a few constructive constraints,” including the changes to how it works with contractors, looking for AI use in hiring and in performance reviews, and that “headcount will only be given if a team cannot automate more of their work.”

von Ahn says that “Duolingo will remain a company that cares deeply about its employees” and that “this isn’t about replacing Duos with AI.” Instead, he says that the changes are “about removing bottlenecks” so that employees can “focus on creative work and real problems, not repetitive tasks.”

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Perhaps I should have said "tedious" sted "repetitive."

Most jobs are by their nature repetitive, as how else does one acquire domain expertise? Seeing something for the first time and having question marks appear in a thought bubble is wildly different from having seen similar situations hundreds of times, solving the issue immediately and going about your day.

Some of these tasks are enjoyable -- I didn't get out of page design by choice, and by then I'd conservatively produced well above 10,000 pages -- but others are not. For me, the benchmark is "Am I actually using my brain to solve a problem, or is this just using time that could otherwise be spent doing so?"

The latter tasks are the ones I was referring to. No sane person buys a tablet of 2,000 Flushes and then proceeds to flush the toilet 2,000 times in rapid succession.