May 1, 2025

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Duolingo AI-First, Microsoft Azure Boost, AI Safety Concerns

The tech industry is experiencing a significant shift towards the adoption of artificial intelligence, with companies such as Duolingo, Microsoft, and Meta investiung heavily in AI infrastructure. Duolingo has announced an AI-first strategy, which involves replacing contractors with AI for tasks that can be automated, and has already seen benefits from this approach, including improved content creation and new features. Microsoft has beaten its quarterly revenue estimates, thanks in part to a boost from its AI-powered cloud division, Azure. However, the increased use of AI also raises concerns about environmental impact and job displacement. Additionally, there are concerns about the safety of AI companion apps for children and teenagers, with a report finding that they pose unacceptable risks. Other companies, such as Leidos and JetBrains, are also investing in AI, with Leidos announcing a $10 million investment in AI-powered disease detection and JetBrains releasing an open AI coding model. Meanwhile, Meta is facing trade hurdles in its push to develop artificial intelligence, and Figure AI has sent cease-and-desist letters to secondary market brokers. Furthermore, AI bots have stolen millions in financial aid from California community colleges, highlighting the need for increased security measures.

Key Takeaways

  • Duolingo has adopted an AI-first strategy, replacing contractors with AI for tasks that can be automated.
  • Microsoft has beaten its quarterly revenue estimates, thanks in part to a boost from its AI-powered cloud division, Azure.
  • The increased use of AI raises concerns about environmental impact and job displacement.
  • AI companion apps pose unacceptable risks to children and teenagers.
  • Leidos has announced a $10 million investment in AI-powered disease detection.
  • JetBrains has released an open AI coding model.
  • Meta is facing trade hurdles in its push to develop artificial intelligence.
  • Figure AI has sent cease-and-desist letters to secondary market brokers.
  • AI bots have stolen millions in financial aid from California community colleges.
  • The tech industry is experiencing a significant shift towards the adoption of artificial intelligence.

Duolingo adopts AI-first strategy

Duolingo is shifting to an AI-first approach, using artificial intelligence to streamline processes and reduce manual tasks. The company's CEO, Luis von Ahn, announced the change in an all-hands email, stating that Duolingo will stop using contractors for work that AI can handle. This move is expected to help the company scale its content creation and improve efficiency. Other companies, such as Shopify, are also adopting similar AI-first strategies. However, there are concerns about the environmental impact of increased AI use, with a scientific paper estimating that data center pollution could lead to up to 1,300 premature deaths each year by 2030.

Duolingo cuts contractor roles with AI shift

Duolingo is restructuring its workforce as it shifts towards an AI-first model. The company will stop using contractors for work that can be done by artificial intelligence, and will evaluate job candidates and employee performance based on their use of AI tools. Duolingo's CEO, Luis von Ahn, said that the company will only increase headcount when teams have maximized automation. The move is expected to help Duolingo scale its content development and improve efficiency. The company has already seen benefits from its AI-first approach, with improved content creation and new features such as an AI-powered video call feature.

Duolingo replaces contractors with AI

Duolingo is going AI-first, replacing contract workers with artificial intelligence. The company's CEO, Luis von Ahn, announced the change in an all-hands email, stating that Duolingo will stop using contractors for work that AI can handle. The move is expected to help the company scale its content creation and improve efficiency. Duolingo has already seen benefits from its AI-first approach, with improved content creation and new features such as an AI-powered video call feature. The company will also integrate AI into its hiring process and performance reviews, and will provide training and mentorship to employees to help them adapt to the new workflow.

Microsoft beats revenue estimates with AI boost

Microsoft has beaten its quarterly revenue estimates, thanks in part to a boost from its AI-powered cloud division, Azure. The company's revenue rose 13% to $70.1 billion, exceeding expectations. Azure's revenue grew 33%, with AI contributing 16 percentage points to the growth. Microsoft's commercial bookings growth was up 18%, driven in part by a new Azure contract with ChatGPT creator OpenAI. The company has been investing heavily in its AI infrastructure and expanding its data center footprint, with plans to spend $80 billion on its data center build-out this year.

Microsoft forecasts strong cloud growth

Microsoft has forecast stronger-than-expected quarterly growth for its cloud-computing business, Azure. The company's revenue at Azure rose 33% in the third quarter, exceeding estimates. AI contributed 16 percentage points to the growth. Microsoft forecast cloud-computing revenue growth of 34% to 35% for the fiscal fourth quarter, well above analyst estimates. The company's commercial bookings growth was up 18%, driven in part by a new Azure contract with ChatGPT creator OpenAI. Microsoft has been investing heavily in its AI infrastructure and expanding its data center footprint.

AI companion apps unsafe for kids

A report by Common Sense Media has found that AI companion apps pose unacceptable risks to children and teenagers. The report tested three popular AI companion services and found that they easily produce harmful responses, including sexual misconduct and dangerous advice. The company is calling for parents not to let their children use AI companion apps, citing the potential risks to young people. Some AI companies, such as Character.AI and Replika, have implemented youth safety measures, but researchers say more needs to be done to protect kids from accessing inappropriate content.

Meta faces trade hurdles in AI push

Meta is facing trade hurdles in its push to develop artificial intelligence. The company is committed to investing in AI, but is facing challenges in its efforts to develop and deploy AI technology. Meta's AI push is seen as a key part of its strategy to stay competitive in the tech industry, but the company must navigate complex trade regulations and investing requirements.

Figure AI sends cease-and-desist letters

Figure AI has sent cease-and-desist letters to secondary market brokers, demanding that they stop marketing the company's stock. The move comes after Figure AI was reportedly seeking a $1.5 billion funding round at a $39.5 billion valuation. The company has a history of sending such letters to unauthorized brokers, and has stated that it will continue to protect itself against unwanted third-party brokers in the market.

Leidos invests in AI disease detection

Leidos has announced a $10 million investment in partnership with the University of Pittsburgh to enhance disease detection and management using artificial intelligence. The collaboration will focus on developing AI-powered tools to reduce diagnostic times and enable more effective care management. Leidos has a history of applying AI in healthcare and other critical sectors, and the partnership will establish a world-class research hub to further the development of digital pathology and AI diagnostics.

MetroHealth selects Pieces Technologies for AI platform

MetroHealth has selected Pieces Technologies as its AI platform to improve clinical workflows and enhance patient care. The partnership will provide care teams with AI-powered tools to assist with clinical workflows, returning valuable time to clinicians and enhancing patient care. Pieces' AI platform will be deployed across inpatient and outpatient settings, and will help MetroHealth enhance patient care and improve access by reducing inefficiencies and eliminating time-consuming administrative tasks.

AI bots steal millions in financial aid

AI bots have stolen over $10 million in federal financial aid and upward of $3 million in state aid from California community colleges. The scammers, known as 'Pell runners,' create AI-generated student profiles, apply for enrollment, and submit minimal online coursework to stay enrolled long enough to receive aid disbursements. The problem has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to loosened restrictions around financial aid and a shift to online coursework. California has allocated over $150 million to combat fraud at community colleges, but the problem persists.

JetBrains releases open AI coding model

JetBrains has released its first open AI model for coding, called Mellum. The model is designed for code completion and is trained on over 4 trillion tokens. Mellum is available on the AI dev platform Hugging Face and can be used for integration into professional developer tooling, AI-powered coding assistants, and research on code understanding and generation. However, the model requires fine-tuning before use and may reflect biases present in public codebases.

Sources

AI Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning Duolingo Microsoft Azure Cloud Computing