Luis von Ahn co-founded Duolingo in 2011. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn has some explaining to do. Earlier this year, after the language learning app circulated an internal memo about prioritizing A.I. in hiring and phasing out contractors, the company was quickly cited as an example of how A.I. is eliminating jobs across industries. In reality, Duolingo has no plans to replace full-time staffers with A.I., von Ahn clarified in a recent interview with the New York Times. The confusion, he admitted, was his fault for not providing “enough context.”
“This was on me,” von Ahn said of the backlash. “Externally, as a publicly traded company some people assume that it’s just for profit. Or that we’re trying to lay off humans. And that was not the intent at all.”
Co-founded by von Ahn in 2011, Duolingo is best known for its popular language learning courses. The company went public in 2021 and is currently valued at $16.7 billion. Its monthly active users have grown 24 percent in the past year to 128.3 million as of August.
Much of that momentum has been fueled by Duolingo’s pivot to A.I. The company has rolled out new features such as an OpenAI-powered video call tool that lets subscribers practice conversations with a fictional character.
The Pittsburgh, Pa.-based company has long leaned into new technologies and automation, but recent advances in A.I. have turbocharged its ambitions, according to von Ahn. “Something like 95 percent of people don’t want to talk to another person in a language that they are not very comfortable with,” he told the New York Times. “The nice thing is, you don’t feel judged by a computer.”
A.I. has also boosted the company’s productivity. Tasks that once took years can now be completed in weeks, said von Ahn, who in April announced plans to make Duolingo an “A.I. first” company. The memo outlined goals such as using A.I. to handle work previously done by temporary contractors, evaluating how employees incorporate A.I. during performance reviews and limiting headcount growth to roles that cannot be automated.
Still, von Ahn stressed that the contractor phaseout does not apply to full-time staff. “We’ve never laid off any full-time employees. We don’t plan to,” he said. While acknowledging that A.I. will reshape jobs, he argued it won’t replace humans but rather help them achieve more. To that end, Duolingo holds weekly sessions for employees to experiment with the technology.
The rise of A.I. has also introduced new challenges. Language learners can now practice conversations directly with chatbots, creating fresh competition for Duolingo’s model. Yet von Ahn is confident that the company’s distinctive brand—marked by playful messaging, viral marketing and an active social media presence—gives it an edge.
“Just having conversations in French on something like ChatGPT gets pretty boring after a while,” said von Ahn. “The thing that differentiates us for learning a language—or learning anything—is the engagement.”
