Ethan MarcotteApr 29, 2025

okay, yes, this entire approach to “ai” in the workforce is yet another instance of a tech CEO beclowning himself

at the same time: when a leader says human workers are a source of “bottlenecks”, and that automation is the source of “solutions”, pay very, very, very close attention

(and if you haven’t already, start getting organized with your coworkers)

https://www.theverge.com/news/657594/duolingo-ai-first-replace-contract-workers

Duolingo will replace contract workers with AI

Duolingo cofounder and CEO Luis von Ahn says that the company will “gradually stop using contractors to do work that Al can handle” as part of an all-hands email announcing that the company will be “AI-first.”

The Verge
4d tommieMay 1, 2025
Show threadEthan Marcotte
As usual, @anildash has it right: much like the “return to office” push that preceded them, these “AI-first” corporate policies are performances for investors, and for other tech CEOs. A more sensible policy would empower workers to explore a technology’s benefits, not simply mandate usage. https://www.anildash.com//2025/04/19/ai-first-is-the-new-return-to-office/
"AI-first" is the new Return To Office - Anil Dash

A blog about making culture. Since 1999.

May 1, 2025 at 1:30pmWeb
Show threadlolcatMay 1, 2025

@beep @anildash

The GenAI push is just Cloud 2.0. Those of us who lived through the period 2005 - 2015 saw the suits declare preemptive war on anything that wasn't AWS/MS/Goog. There were no studies to determine effectiveness, cost or otherwise. Instead, any/everyone with any competence doing anything that wasn't dependent on proprietary commercial cloud service was let go / forced out and replaced by very expensive "vendor relationship managers" and junior cloud-only developers.