CEO Luis von Ahn declares an ‘AI-first’ future, prioritizing automation to scale content and enhance learning experiences
- AI-First Strategy:Â Duolingo is officially adopting an “AI-first” approach, signaling a fundamental shift in how the company operates and develops its products.
- Workforce Impact:Â This includes gradually phasing out contractors for tasks AI can perform and integrating AI proficiency into hiring, performance reviews, and resource allocation.
- Mission-Driven Automation:Â The primary drivers are the need to massively scale content creation for language learning and to build advanced AI-powered features, deemed essential for Duolingo’s mission.
Duolingo, the popular language-learning platform, is embarking on a significant strategic shift, officially declaring itself an “AI-first” company. In an all-hands email subsequently shared publicly, co-founder and CEO Luis von Ahn outlined a future where artificial intelligence is not just a tool but a core component of the company’s operations and growth strategy. This move signals a profound change, comparable, in von Ahn’s view, to the company’s successful early bet on a “mobile-first” approach which he credits for much of its subsequent success, including winning the iPhone App of the Year in 2013.
The transition to being “AI-first” necessitates more than superficial adjustments; von Ahn emphasizes that it requires fundamentally rethinking workflows. “Making minor tweaks to systems designed for humans won’t get us there,” he stated, indicating that many processes may need to be rebuilt “from scratch.” This commitment to AI stems from its perceived necessity in achieving Duolingo’s core mission. Von Ahn highlighted the immense challenge of creating the vast amount of content required for effective language teaching, stating that manual creation “doesn’t scale.” He pointed to a recent successful decision to replace a slow, manual content creation process with an AI-powered one, asserting that without AI, scaling content adequately “would take us decades.” The urgency, he implies, is driven by the need to serve learners effectively and promptly.
Beyond content creation, AI is seen as an enabler for previously impossible features, such as the mentioned “Video Call” capability, and brings the ambitious goal of “teaching as well as the best human tutors” within reach. To embed this AI focus throughout the organization, Duolingo is implementing several “constructive constraints.” Most notably, the company will “gradually stop using contractors to do work that AI can handle.” Furthermore, the use and understanding of AI will become criteria in hiring decisions and employee performance evaluations. Requests for increased headcount will face scrutiny, granted only “if a team cannot automate more of their work,” a policy echoing a similar stance recently articulated by Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke regarding AI utilization before resource allocation.
Despite these automation-focused changes, von Ahn reassured employees, affectionately termed “Duos,” that the strategy “isn’t about replacing Duos with AI.” Instead, the goal is framed as “removing bottlenecks” to allow existing employees to “focus on creative work and real problems, not repetitive tasks.” He stressed that Duolingo will remain a company that “cares deeply about its employees” and pledged support through increased training, mentorship, and tooling to help staff integrate AI into their roles. The company is choosing to move with urgency, accepting potential “occasional small hits on quality” rather than risk missing the transformative potential of the current AI shift. This decisive move underscores Duolingo’s belief that embracing AI is crucial not only for operational efficiency and product innovation but for fulfilling its fundamental mission of language education at scale.