• Duolingo is restructuring its operations around AI.
• Companies like Shopify and Klarna also push for AI integration in daily operations.

Duolingo is undergoing a major internal shift as it moves toward becoming an “AI-first” company. The change was outlined in an email from cofounder and CEO Luis von Ahn to all employees, which was later shared publicly on LinkedIn. The memo lays out how the language-learning platform plans to integrate artificial intelligence across its workflows and decision-making processes.

One of the key updates includes a gradual reduction in contractor roles, especially for tasks that can be handled by AI systems. Von Ahn emphasised that this is not about cutting headcount for the sake of efficiency but rather reallocating work so that full-time employees can focus on higher-value tasks that require creativity and problem-solving. “This isn’t about replacing Duos with AI,” he wrote, referring to employees. “It’s about removing bottlenecks.”

The move comes as Duolingo ramps up its use of AI in content creation, hiring, and performance evaluations. Von Ahn noted that simply making small adjustments to traditional systems won’t be enough. Instead, he called for a complete rethink of how teams operate, starting from the ground up where necessary. “Making minor tweaks to systems designed for humans won’t get us there,” he said.

As part of this shift, the company will introduce a set of new guidelines:

• Contractors will be phased out for work that AI can take over
• AI capabilities will be considered in both hiring decisions and performance reviews
• New headcount will only be approved if a team has already maximised automation opportunities
• Most departments will be expected to adopt AI-centric workflows

Von Ahn pointed to recent AI-driven updates within the company that have improved efficiency. For example, Duolingo recently replaced a slow, manual content development process with one powered by AI. According to von Ahn, scaling educational content manually would have taken years. Automating it has allowed the company to speed up delivery to learners around the world.

He also acknowledged that adopting AI won’t be seamless. Some areas, such as enabling AI to understand the company’s existing codebase, will require time and effort. But von Ahn emphasised a preference for moving quickly, even if it means tolerating some imperfection. “We can’t wait until the technology is 100% perfect,” he said. “We’d rather move with urgency and take occasional small hits on quality than move slowly and miss the moment.”

The company plans to support employees through the transition, offering additional training, mentorship, and tools to help them adapt. The goal, according to von Ahn, is to ensure employees are empowered to work alongside AI tools rather than feel displaced by them.

This internal memo comes amid a broader wave of similar messages from other tech companies. Shopify, for instance, recently communicated a comparable shift. CEO Tobi Lütke said in a memo sent to staff members and shared online that teams must justify requests for additional resources by explaining why their goals cannot be achieved with AI. He framed the shift as a necessary adjustment to a fast-moving technological landscape, calling AI “the most rapid shift to how work is done that I’ve seen in my career.”

Lütke also mentioned that “reflexive AI usage” is becoming a baseline expectation at Shopify, with AI-related questions increasingly being included in performance and peer review processes. His message encouraged teams to think about how their work would look if AI agents were already integrated—a prompt he said could lead to valuable experimentation.

Beyond internal policy changes, some companies are also publicising the impact of AI on their operations. Klarna’s CEO, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, said in March that the company’s customer support chatbot now performs the work of approximately 700 agents. He has spoken publicly about AI’s potential, suggesting it could one day manage nearly all types of jobs.

Still, the rise of AI in the workplace isn’t without resistance. A study published in March found that about 31% of workers have refused to use AI tools or their outputs. The refusal was often tied to concerns over job security and dissatisfaction with the quality or transparency of the tools provided.

There are also technical limitations. A recent experiment by Carnegie Mellon University tested how AI agents from major technology firms would perform in a simulated office setting. None of the models performed particularly well. The top model, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, completed less than 25% of its assigned tasks, suggesting that current AI systems may not yet be ready to fully replicate human office work across the board.

These developments illustrate how companies are approaching AI adoption with different strategies. Some are emphasising speed and experimentation, while others are trying to balance automation with employee retention and training. In Duolingo’s case, the company appears focused on building infrastructure that allows AI to scale content and reduce repetitive work—while still keeping employees involved in shaping and overseeing the process.

Whether these approaches will ultimately deliver the efficiency and scalability companies are hoping for remains to be seen. What’s clear for now is that AI is becoming a central factor in how organisations structure teams, assign work, and define success.

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