AI translation company DeepL cuts around 250 jobs to rebuild as an "AI-native" organization

DeepL, the German AI-powered translation service that competes with Google Translate and other machine translation tools, is laying off roughly 250 employees. CEO and founder Jarek Kutylowski announced the cuts on LinkedIn, calling it the hardest decision of his career. DeepL wants to restructure itself as an "AI-native" company, where smaller teams use AI to handle work that previously required entire departments.

Kutylowski acknowledged that DeepL's current structure isn't built for what comes next. He plans to personally lead a task force focused on realigning products and processes.

At the same time, DeepL is doubling down on real-time voice translation. The company is acquiring the team from Mixhalo, a specialist in audio streaming technology, and opening a new office in San Francisco as part of the move.