Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn, is setting the record straight after his memo about the app becoming “AI-first” caused a big stir. In a recent chat, he explained that the trouble wasn’t the company’s new plan—it was how he shared it. He told me the message threw people because it was short on background info, making it feel suddenly scary, especially to folks not working inside the office.
The CEO wanted it understood that the push to bring AI into the mix isn’t a sneaky way to shrink the team or chase easy money. “Within the company, there was zero drama,” he told The New York Times. Outside, though, the stock ticker set off alarms. Lots of folks jumped to the conclusion that teachers, test writers, and anyone else building lessons by hand was getting the boot. Von Ahn stepped in to correct, “That was not the intent at all.” The misunderstanding, he insists, was never the plan.
To be crystal clear, he pointed out that Duolingo’s never handed out a pink slip to a full-time staffer, and the blueprint doesn’t include that in the future. Sure, at times the company has trimmed contractors here and there, but Von Ahn noted that’s not an AI story—those cuts came around long before chatbots were in the boardroom. “From the beginning,” he explained, “we have adjusted the contractor team when demand changes.” The takeaway: the so-called “AI cuts” are just the same ebb and flow the company lived through all along.
Even with all the debate around it, Duolingo is all-in on artificial intelligence. Luis Von Ahn, the company’s co-founder, is convinced that AI could turn education on its head—in a good way. Every Friday morning, Duolingo’s teams block off part of the day just to play with the latest AI tools. They ask questions like, “How could this gadget make learning easier, faster, and more fun?” They’ve even given the habit a goofy name: “Fr-AI-days.” Von Ahn laughs and admits, “Terrible acronym! I have no idea how to say it.”
Looking ahead, Duolingo CEO to mix its human teachers with AI so that both teams shine. The goal isn’t to throw teachers out the window; rather, AI is being rebuilt to work like a magical sidekick. It can shoot off custom lessons, zap boring tasks off a teacher’s to-do list, and dish out speedy feedback. Imagine a language lesson that’s perfectly timed to your tiny victories or a chatbot that talks to you in French, Spanish, or any language you want—just like a real person. Those dreams used to feel impossible to pull off for millions of learners, but now that AI is in the room, they’re starting to feel like a plan you can add to a calendar.
So, what’s really behind the drama? It kicked off earlier this year when Luis von Ahn, Duolingo’s CEO, tweeted that the company was going “AI-first” and lots of folks took that to mean “look out, layoffs are coming.” Forums lit up, articles piled up, and even teachers who run Duolingo classrooms were worried. Sure, Duolingo’s lingo was a bit vague, but the company’s latest numbers still show the same upward graph, especially in tongue-twisty stuff like speech lessons and custom quizzes powered by machine learning. To the outsider, the “AI-first” motto smells more like a stylish profit font than a pink-slip fax machine. They haven’t removed learning scientists; they’ve given them sharper tools. The site keeps getting better, bug fixes and all.
Catch the Timeline
Early 2025: The “AI-first” motto drops, the Internet shrieks, teachers and tutors clutch pearls.
Mid 2025: Talk of firing contract cool-down crowds. Duolingo counters: “No full-timers out the door.”
August 2025: von Ahn tweets frant and clear: tools are smart; teachers stay smart, teachers rock.
When we zoom in on the future, it feels like Duolingo is basically saying, “AI and the human spark are the perfect team-up.” While the tech surrounding apps shifts quick, Duolingo CEO is sticking to the plan of leading the ed-tech gang—not by pushing people to the sidelines, but by giving them superhero upgrades. Think about it: perfecting that tricky roll of the tongue, or lessons that seem to read your mind and adjust the second you do. The whole idea is that AI is about to change the world of learning, and the company is shouting it from the rooftops so everyone—students, teachers, and those who invest money—grabs the picture.