AI translation firm DeepL cuts quarter of staff, citing AI

AI-powered language translation company DeepL said Thursday that it would cut about a quarter of its workforce as artificial intelligence had made the roles redundant.

About 250 of Cologne-based DeepL's 1,000 employees would lose their jobs, chief executive officer and founder Jarek Kutylowski said in a post on LinkedIn.

"We are currently living through a massive structural shift in what work exists, who does it, and how many people it takes to do it well, and that shift is because of AI," he said.


"It means fewer layers, faster decisions and far less time spent on the back and forth that slows large teams down," he added.

The move marks the latest round of job losses attributed to the technology across a range of industries, as AI dramatically increases productivity and simplifies some tasks.

American tech giant Amazon and German insurer Allianz are among the firms to have cited AI as a reason for job cuts in recent months.

Meta and Microsoft have meanwhile cut thousands of jobs this year, citing the need to control costs while they ramp up investment in the field.

Founded in 2017 as a rival to Google Translate, DeepL is widely used and in 2024 was valued at $2 billion (then 1.85 billion euros).