Duolingo, the world’s most popular language-learning app, is taking a bold leap into the future by adopting an AI-first strategy. In an all-hands email shared on Duolingo’s LinkedIn, co-founder and CEO Luis von Ahn revealed the company’s commitment to fully integrating artificial intelligence into its core operations, from content creation to hiring decisions.
A Big Shift Toward Automation
Von Ahn’s memo emphasized that AI isn’t just a tool for efficiency, it’s a foundational change. Duolingo will gradually stop using contractors for tasks that can be done by AI, rethink its hiring and performance review processes to include AI usage, and only approve team expansions when automation isn’t an option.
“To teach well, we need to create a massive amount of content, and doing that manually doesn’t scale,” von Ahn explained. “Without AI, it would take us decades to scale our content to more learners.”
This move echoes similar shifts by other tech companies, such as Shopify, which also recently emphasized AI over new headcount.
AI in Action at Duolingo
Duolingo has already seen major success with AI. A once slow and manual content creation process has now been replaced with AI-powered systems, speeding up production and enabling more learners to access quality language lessons faster than ever before.
Additionally, AI is helping Duolingo build new features like its video call function something that would’ve been impossible without recent AI advancements.
What It Means for Workers
While the strategy includes reducing reliance on contractors, von Ahn was careful to point out that Duolingo still values its team.
“This isn’t about replacing Duos [employees] with AI,” he said. “It’s about removing bottlenecks so we can do more with the outstanding Duos we already have.”
Employees will receive support in the form of AI training, mentorship, and new tools designed to help them focus on creative work and real-world problems, not repetitive tasks.
Duolingo’s AI-first approach could set a new standard for edtech and productivity in tech companies more broadly. By rethinking traditional workflows and investing in AI, the company is aiming to stay ahead of the curve while staying true to its mission: making high-quality education accessible to everyone.
