Some Duolingo workers were fired in favor of AI
2024-01-10
Washington Post
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Duolingo cut around 10% of its US-based contractors, replacing them with AI-driven content generation. Humans will still review AI outputs for accuracy, though former contractors report errors in lessons since the shift. Duolingo aims to optimize costs, reflecting a broader trend of AI displacing human labor.[AI generated]
Why's our monitor labelling this an incident or hazard?
The article explicitly states that AI chatbots (an AI system) have been used to replace human contract workers, leading to job cuts. This is a direct use of AI causing harm to workers' employment and labor rights, fitting the definition of an AI Incident under violations of labor rights. The harm is realized, not just potential, as workers were fired due to AI substitution.[AI generated]