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Duolingo announced this week it will phase out human contractors who design language courses in favor of artificial intelligence (AI). The company simultaneously revealed the launch of AI-generated language courses, its largest content expansion ever.
CEO Luis von Ahn revealed the changes in a company-wide email shared on LinkedIn, declaring Duolingo will become “AI-first” and eliminate contractors for tasks AI can perform.
Von Ahn added that Duolingo isn’t waiting for the technology to be perfect before implementing it. “We’d rather move with urgency and take occasional small hits on quality than move slowly and miss the moment,” he wrote on April 28.
He compared this strategic shift to Duolingo’s pivotal 2012 decision to focus on mobile. “Betting on mobile made all the difference. We’re making a similar call now, and this time the platform shift is AI, ” he said.
Beyond replacing contractors, Duolingo’s new AI-first strategy includes several policy changes. New hiring will require proof that AI cannot handle the work. Employee performance reviews will assess the proficiency of AI tools. Teams must demonstrate that they have maximized automation before requesting additional staff.
“This isn’t about replacing Duos with AI. It’s about removing bottlenecks so we can do more with the outstanding Duos we already have,” Von Ahn reassured.
148 new language courses created in under a year
Duolingo immediately followed its AI announcement by unveiling 148 new language courses. These new courses were created using generative AI in less than a year. By comparison, Duolingo says its first 100 courses took about 12 years to develop manually.
“This is a great example of how generative AI can directly benefit our learners. This launch reflects the incredible impact of our AI and automation investments, which have allowed us to scale at unprecedented speed and quality,” Von Ahn explained.
The new courses are mainly for beginners and include features like Stories for reading and DuoRadio for listening practice. They focus on making popular languages like Japanese, Korean, and Mandarin available to speakers of 28 different languages.
Users have expressed mixed reactions on social media. Some praise the expanded language options, while others worry about potential declines in content quality and job losses for course designers.
Similar AI-focused policies have been adopted by other tech companies. Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke recently told teams they must explain why they “cannot get what they want done using AI” before asking for more resources.
