DeepL cuts 25% of its workforce due to the rise of AI

The boom of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not only changing technology usage habits but also directly reshaping the global labor market. Most recently, the translation unicorn DeepL sounded an alarm when it decided to cut a large number of employees to make way for automated processes.

Below is the full picture of the personnel restructuring wave currently drawing attention in the tech world.

1. The "bloodshed" decision at translation unicorn DeepL

The renowned German start-up, DeepL, has just announced it will terminate contracts with about 250 of its current 1,000 employees. This move stems directly from AI developing to the point where it can take over and render a large volume of traditional workloads redundant.

Sharing on the LinkedIn platform, Mr. Jarek Kutylowski – CEO and founder of DeepL, emphasized the strategic benefits of this downsizing:

Eliminating bulkiness: Reducing intermediate management layers.
Optimizing workflows: Significantly shortening internal communication time, which is often a barrier for large-scale teams.
Accelerating decision-making: Helping the organization operate more flexibly and agilely.

2. The outstanding capabilities of the new AI system

Founded in 2017 and quickly becoming Google Translate's most formidable competitor, DeepL has now reached a valuation of $2 billion (as of 2024). The company's decision to cut staff is entirely well-founded when looking at the technological power they possess.

Last June, DeepL successfully integrated the DGX SuperPOD super-system running on Nvidia's chip platform. This upgrade brought unimaginable performance figures:

Translation processing time for the entire Internet data repository plummeted from 194 days to a mere 18.5 days.
The longest literary work in the world – In Search of Lost Time (by Marcel Proust) – now takes only 0.09 seconds to be fully translated, more than 10 times faster than the old record of 0.95 seconds.

3. The Domino effect spreading across the tech industry

DeepL is not an isolated case. The wave of "making way for AI" is spreading to complex fields such as cybersecurity and Internet infrastructure.

The corporation Cloudflare also recently confirmed a comprehensive restructuring, leading to the layoff of 20% of its global workforce. According to data from Reuters, this means more than 1,100 people will lose their jobs, based on a total workforce of 5,156 recorded at the end of 2025. The ultimate goal of Cloudflare in this purge is precisely to accelerate the integration of AI into their systems.

4. Alarming forecasts for the future of work

Macro-level statistics are painting a challenging picture for workers:

Current reality: In the US alone this past March, AI was the "culprit" behind 25% of the 60,000 announced layoffs.
Future forecast: A large-scale survey conducted by Duke University and the US Federal Reserve (Fed) on 750 Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) reached a shocking conclusion. By 2026, the rate of workers losing their jobs to AI is expected to skyrocket by 9 times compared to 2025.

CONCLUSION

The personnel landscape of the tech industry is entering a harsh transition phase. The rise of AI is no longer a story of the future but is directly dictating the employment opportunities of hundreds of thousands of people right at this present moment.

Source: VnExpress