08-26-2025
In April 2025, Duolingo’s CEO, Luis von Ahn, announced that the language app would be “AI first.” To achieve this mission, the company planned to “gradually stop using contractors to do work that AI can handle.” Employees were to start each task with AI. Duolingo still planned to hire human workers. However, managers first had to show they could not accomplish those tasks with AI.
There was a lot of public backlash from customers and employees to this announcement. Initially, von Ahn released a video to explain the strategy further. However, that explanation did not reduce the strong public response. Von Ahn told the Financial Times that every tech company was taking the same approach to AI. They were just not as open about it.
In August 2025, von Ahn gave an interview to the New York Times about the “AI first” strategy. Von Ahn said he did not give enough context when he said it. He told the NYT that Duolingo continues to hire at the “same speed” as it did before. Presently, 1,000 people work for the company, including 50 or so interns. The company has not laid off any workers, and von Ahn does not plan to. It hires many contractors, with numbers varying based on need. He went on to share that some people’s jobs will likely change, particularly engineers. In the future, specific tasks can be completed with fewer people with the help of AI. Notwithstanding the backlash, Duolingo continues to increase its profitability.