AI APPLICATIONS
Duolingo is on its way to an“ AI-first” strategy that’ s impacting education technology through virtual assistant-style personalised learning experiences.
The decision shows how the world’ s most popular language learning app creates content for its 500 million users, though it’ s sparked considerable internal controversy.
CEO Luis von Ahn draws parallels to the company’ s prescient mobile-first decision in 2012:“ AI is already changing how work gets done. It’ s not a question of if or when. It’ s happening now. When there’ s a shift this big, the worst thing you can do is wait.” Duolingo has more than doubled its offerings by launching 148 new language courses – its biggest expansion ever.
“ Developing our first 100 courses took about 12 years, and now, in about a year, we’ re able to create and launch nearly 150 new courses,” Luis explains.
Senior Director of Learning Design Jessie Becker adds:“ It used to take a small team years to build a single new course from scratch.
“ Now, by using Gen AI to create and validate content, we’ re able to focus our expertise where it’ s most impactful.”
However, the strategy isn’ t without friction. The company cut 10 % of contracted translators in January 2024, explicitly replacing human work with AI – embodying the complex workforce implications as education technology evolves toward virtual assistant capabilities.