AM I NEXT? NO LOVE AT DUOLINGO

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Duolingo, an educational technology company that produces learning apps and provides language certification, has announced a ten percent reduction in its translator contractors as it adopts generative AI translations for its language-learning platform.

According to a company spokesperson, "No full-time employees were affected by the layoffs and the company no longer need as many contract employees, mostly quality checkers for the AI translations." The company noted that not all layoffs were due to technology adoption."

CEO Luis von Ahn has noted, “Generative AI is accelerating our work by helping us create new content dramatically faster.

"We are not swapping the expertise of human experts for AI. AI is a tool we are using to increase productivity and efficiency, to add new content, and improve our courses faster so that we can continue to teach to higher levels of proficiency.”

Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. We see good people being laid off through no fault of their own. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?

AM I NEXT? NO LOVE AT DTE ENERGY

Detroit, Michigan-based DTE Energy, a diversified energy company involved in the development and management of energy-related businesses and services in the United States and Canada, is implementing a voluntary layoff initiative.

According to Diane Antishin, vice president of Human Resources and chief diversity and inclusion officer, "DTE Energy has a new plan to trim its workforce and said it hopes to keep electric and gas bills affordable."

The power company is offering voluntary buyouts to 30% of its 10,000-employee workforce. Most of the targeted employees are primarily in corporate and staff roles.

The company-issued statement noted, "We’re taking action to further focus on what matters most to our customers: providing increasingly safe, reliable and cleaner energy while keeping their bills affordable during this time of massive investment in transforming the way we generate and distribute energy. At the same time, this voluntary program will enable us to provide new opportunities for our team members to learn, grow and contribute while keeping DTE a great place to work.

Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. We see good people being laid off through no fault of their own. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?

AM I NEXT? NO LOVE AT DISCORD

San Francisco, California-based Discord, an instant messaging and VoIP social platform, has announced a personnel realignment that will result in a 17% reduction in the workforce.

The reduction in force will impact 170 employees.

According to CEO Jason Citron...

"Today we are making the unfortunate and difficult decision to reduce the size of Discord’s workforce by 17%. This means we are saying goodbye to 170 of our talented colleagues. This is a decision we did not take lightly, but it is one that we have conviction in to better serve our users, our business and our mission over the long term.

Where we are and how we got here

Our company has changed and grown significantly over the past few years. We should all be really proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish together to serve the millions of people who turn to Discord every day to spend time with their friends.

At the same time, we have to face some hard truths. We grew quickly and expanded our workforce even faster, increasing by 5x since 2020. As a result, we took on more projects and became less efficient in how we operated.

Today, we are increasingly clear on the need to sharpen our focus and improve the way we work together to bring more agility to our organization. This is what largely drove the decision to reduce the size of our workforce. While difficult, I am confident this will put us in the best position to continue building a strong and profitable business that delivers amazing products for our users and supports our mission for years to come.

I’ll end by sharing deep appreciation and gratitude for those leaving us. Discord is better because of your contributions and the passion you brought to delivering for our users, our company, and each other. Thank you for everything.

It’s incredibly difficult to say goodbye to respected peers, many of whom have become friends. I’m hopeful that working on and with our product has reinforced that these bonds can be sustained and even strengthened beyond the “walls” of any one place.

Take care of yourselves and let’s look out for each other through this particularly challenging time.

Jason

Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. We see good people being laid off through no fault of their own. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?