No Al, no job. These companies are requiring workers to use the tech

LUIS von Ahn hoped to send a clear message to his 900 employees at Duolingo: Artificial intelligence is now a priority at the language-learning app.

- THE WASHINGTON POST

The company would stop using contractors for work AI could handle. It'll seek AI skills in hiring. Al would be part of performance reviews, and it'll only hire people when things can’t be automated. The details, outlined in a memo in April and posted on professional networking site LinkedIn, drew outrage.

Some cringed at AI translations suggesting that learning languages need human context. Many users threatened to quit Duolingo. Others blasted the company for choosing Al over its workers. The backlash got so loud that three weeks later, von Ahn posted an update.

“To be clear: I do not see AI as replacing what our employees do (we are in fact continuing to hire at the same speed as before), von Ahn wrote in the update on LinkedIn. “I see it as a tool to accelerate what we do, at the same or better level of quality. And the sooner we learn how to use it, and use it responsibly, the better off we will be in the long run.”

From Duolingo to Meta to e-commerce firm Shopify and cloud storage company Box, more companies are mandating their executives and teams implement Al-first strategies in areas such as risk assessment, hiring and performance reviews. Some of the directives are being detailed in public memos from top leaders, in some cases spurring outrage. Others are happening behind closed doors, according to people in the tech industry. The implication: Al is increasingly becoming a requirement in the workplace and no longer just an option.

“As AI becomes more popular and companies invest more heavily ... the tools will start being embedded in the work [people] already do,” said Emily Rose McRae, an analyst at market research and advisory firm Gartner. “The work they do will change.”