Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn clarifies ‘AI-first’ remark after backlash: 'Not trying to lay off humans'

Duolingo chief executive Luis von Ahn has sought to clarify remarks that sparked backlash earlier this year after he described the language-learning platform as an “AI-first company”.

Criticism over lack of context

Speaking to The New York Times, von Ahn said the reaction stemmed from a lack of context in his original comments. “Internally, this was not controversial,” he noted. “Externally, as a publicly traded company, some people assume that it’s just for profit. Or that we’re trying to lay off humans. And that was not the intent at all.”

Jobs and contractors
The CEO stressed that the company has not made redundancies among its full-time employees and said there were no plans to do so. However, he acknowledged fluctuations in the firm’s use of contractors. “From the beginning … our contractor workforce has gone up and down depending on needs,” he said.

AI experiments continue
The criticism has not significantly affected Duolingo’s financial performance, and the firm continues to explore AI tools within its platform. According to von Ahn, employees dedicate Friday mornings to testing the technology, informally dubbing the initiative “fr-AI-days”.

A Business Insider report suggested earlier this year that Luis von Ahn sees artificial intelligence as a force that could fundamentally reshape global education.

Speaking on the No Priors podcast with venture capitalist Sarah Guo, von Ahn was quoted as saying that teaching through AI offers far greater scalability than traditional classroom instruction.

While stressing that schools will not disappear, the report quoted him saying that their main function may gradually shift towards childcare and supervision rather than direct teaching. “This doesn’t mean teachers will vanish,” he clarified. “Children will always need adults to look after them, and schools will remain necessary for childcare.”

As per the report, he envisioned a future where classrooms are filled with students “Duolingo-ing” through customised lessons, while teachers take on more of a facilitator or mentor role.