Duolingo's AI Promise Sparks Backlash

Duolingo, a language-learning app with over 113 million monthly active users, faced backlash after proclaiming an “AI-first” corporate policy. The company is listed on NASDAQ and announced quarterly results, with 10 million paying subscribers bringing in 38% more revenue than the same quarter in 2024. Duolingo’s stock increased.

CEO Luis von Ahn shared an email on LinkedIn about the company’s new direction, stating, “This time the platform shift is AI.” He said that AI is changing work. Specifics included “gradually stop using contractors to do work that AI can handle,” and that new employees would only be approved if that work couldn’t be automated. AI use would factor into hiring decisions and performance reviews, with most roles seeing initiatives that “fundamentally change how they work”.

Social Media Response

The post received over 1,000 angry comments. Duolingo removed all posts on TikTok and Instagram after “flooded with negative feedback,” according to Fast Company.

Damage Control

A video appeared claiming to be from Duolingo’s disgruntled social media team. Another video featured a man in a green mutant owl mask demanding answers from CEO Luis von Ahn. The first question in the video was “Are there going to be any humans left at this company?” Von Ahn said they would continue to have employees and would be hiring more. Von Ahn clarified on LinkedIn that Duolingo was “continuing to hire at the same speed as before.”

Von Ahn admitted AI would also be changing the way he works. He argued that the AI-first initiative would create more Duolingo products and increase in-house productivity of Duolingo’s employees. He said AI “will allow us to reach more people, and toteachmore people.” Their first 100 language-learning courses took 10 years to develop, but “now in under a year, with the help of AI — and of course with humans reviewing all the work — we were able to release another 100 courses.”

Von Ahn wrote that he was encouraging his team to embrace a new technology. Duolingo wants them feeling “empowered and prepared,” and they’d provide workshops and special AI advisory councils. He calls AI “a tool to accelerate what we do”.

Von Ahn’s letter predicts a 2% jump in profitability by Q3 “as we expect to realize AI cost efficiencies” as well as spending a smaller percentage of their revenue on marketing. The letter predicts “an even more meaningful expansion in Q4.”