Duolingo's CEO, Luis von Ahn, spoke to the New York Times following backlash after the skill learning company seemingly put AI before its employees.
Luis von Ahn, former Carnegie Mellon professor and current CEO of Duolingo, was recently interviewed by The New York Times.
Von Ahn reveals what he learned from sending his “AI-first” memo which received tons of backlash from loyal Duolingo users across the world.
“This one was on me,” von Ahn told The New York Times, “I did not give enough context.”
Apparently, Duolingo’s employees didn’t find the move controversial, yet netizens had a lot to say about the AI shift.
The internet exploded in April 2025, after von Ahn revealed his plans to turn Duolingo, the world’s most popular learning platform, into an “AI-first company.”
This announcement, which was shared via LinkedIn, shocked users to their core, as it signalled the end of Duolingo’s human-centric learning style.
In the interview with The New York Times, von Ahn explicitly said that Duolingo has “never laid off any full-time employees” and it doesn’t plan to.
The CEO goes on to say that the company has used contractors for “temporary tasks” and this workforce has ebbed and flowed “depending on needs.”
Duolingo’s plans to reform its working style really stung after the company said it planned to “gradually phase out contractors.”
Choosing AI over humans isn’t really an option for users, and many revolted, saying that they were planning to leave the platform in search of something more human.
“We care deeply about our employees, but we don’t give a tu-whit tu-woo about our contractors,” one disgruntled Duolingo user said.
While others complained that Duolingo’s previous implementation of AI didn’t really work out.
“I'm a daily Duolingo user, and to be honest, this is a little concerning.”
The user claims that Duolingo already has “quality control issues” within its service, and users complained that the existing AI-powered video call function is “useless.”
When asked whether AI will eliminate jobs at Duolingo, von Ahn told The New York Times that five years down the line “people’s jobs will probably change.”
According to the CEO, Duolingo is already seeing this happen with many of its engineers, as they’re not doing repetitive tasks as much anymore.
Furthermore, Duolingo has a stomach turning “F-r-A-I-days” initiative, which means every Friday morning (get the pun?) teams come together to experiment with AI to “get more efficient use” out of the tech.
It’s unclear which teams are using AI, but it could be speculated that all teams are expected to use this new-fangled technology.
Duolingo’s social media team may be no exception, as anyone familiar with Duolingo knows that the brand loves to pull focus.
Following the “AI-first” backlash, Duolingo pulled all of its TikTok videos from the site, leaving just one.
The remaining video, in the style of an anonymous hacker, seemed to criticize von Ahn’s AI approach.
While it looked like Duolingo employees were protesting the change, it's very unlikely that the TikTok video was posted without von Ahn’s knowledge.
@duolingo DUOLINGO WAS NEVER FUNNY. WE WERE.
♬ original sound - Duolingo
The supposed media stunt, like when Duolingo killed its mascot, only seemed to infuriate users who were already irritated by the AI initiative.
an important message from Duolingo pic.twitter.com/jTTT680yVs
undefined Duolingo (@duolingo) February 11, 2025
Social media users expressed their outrage regarding the change, and many commended Duolingo’s social media team for having “empathy towards others losing their jobs.”
“Me watching what announcing AI has done to Duolingo’s brand… If you’re thinking about using AI-generated creators, you may want to rethink that,” said one social media user.
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