Latest news with #VonAhn
NDTV
27-05-2025
- Business
- NDTV
After Backlash, Duolingo CEO Backtracks On AI Push: "Don't See It Replacing..."
Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn has seemingly backtracked on his comments about artificial intelligence (AI) gradually replacing the contract workers at his company after facing extreme backlash. Mr Von Ahn said the language-learning platform will continue to hire human workers and support the existing employees. As per the Duolingo boss, his previous statement had not gone down well, which prompted him to follow it up internally with the employees and issue another clarifying statement. "To be clear: I do not see AI as replacing what our employees do (we are in fact continuing to hire at the same speed as before)," Mr Von Ahn wrote in a LinkedIn post. "I see it as a tool to accelerate what we do, at the same or better level of quality. And the sooner we learn how to use it, and use it responsibly, the better off we will be in the long run." Mr Von Ahn said he did not exactly know "what's going to happen with AI", but added that it was fundamentally going to change how humans work. "No one is expected to navigate this shift alone. We're developing workshops and advisory councils, and carving out dedicated experimentation time to help all our teams learn and adapt." What did Duolingo CEO claim? In an all-hands memo, Mr Von Ahn announced that Duolingo will be pivoting to an "AI-first" approach to scale its business. He justified the switch in approach, stating the company had taken a similar call in 2012 by betting big on mobile. "I've said this in Q&As and many meetings, but I want to make it official: Duolingo is going to be Al-first. Al is already changing how work gets done. It's not a question of if or when. It's happening now," he said. Apart from not using contractors anymore, Mr Von Ahn said Duolingo will use AI to evaluate performance reviews. Additionally, headcounts will only be given if a team cannot automate more of their work. "AI isn't just a productivity boost. It helps us get closer to our mission. To teach well, we need to create a massive amount of content, and doing that manually doesn't scale." As his post went viral, social media users slammed him for greed and taking away real jobs.
Time of India
20-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn makes a prediction on how AI will change schools in future
Duolingo CEO Luis von Ann recently predicted that artificial intelligence (AI) will fundamentally transform education, shifting the role of schools from traditional learning institutions to childcare and supervised spaces. As reported by Business Insider, speaking at the No Priors podcast, von Ahn stressed on the fact that AI's scalability makes it more efficient than human teachers and it can be easily used for personalised education. "Education is going to change. It's just a lot more scalable to teach with AI than with teachers,' von Ahn said. Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn feels that AI will take over teaching Von Ahn suggests that AI will increasingly handle the core instruction in schools. He believes that AI can deliver personalised education more effectively than traditional classroom models with teachers. AI system can be designed to precisely track individual student progress, identify areas where they struggle and then tailor the learning experience accordingly. Schools won't disappear, but their role will change: Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn While Von Ahn does not believe schools will vanish, he foresees a future where AI tutors handle most of the teaching, while schools primarily serve as safe environments for children. He explained that AI can track individual student performance in real time, adjusting lesson plans to match each child's learning pace—something human teachers struggle to do in large classrooms. 'That doesn't mean the teachers are going to go away. You still need people to take care of the students. I also don't think schools are going to go away because you still need childcare,' von Ahn said on the podcast. This doesn't mean teachers will become obsolete, according to von Ahn. Instead, their responsibilities may evolve. Teachers could transition from primarily delivering instruction to supervising students, providing guidance, and fostering social and emotional development. Von Ahn also points out that the integration of AI in education is already happening. Duolingo, for example, is restructuring its operations to embrace an "AI-first" approach. This includes using AI for tasks previously done by contractors and incorporating AI into employee performance reviews. AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
NDTV
18-05-2025
- Business
- NDTV
Will Schools Exist In AI Future? Duolingo CEO Makes Prediction
Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn has claimed that schools might still be around in the future with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), but their function could shift dramatically. As per Mr Von Ahn, schools may increasingly serve as childcare centres and supervised environments, while AI looks after most of the actual education. "Education is going to change. It's just a lot more scalable to teach with AI than with teachers," said Mr Von Ahn on the No Priors podcast. "That doesn't mean the teachers are going to go away. You still need people to take care of the students. I also don't think schools are going to go away because you still need childcare." Citing the example of a classroom with 30 students, Mr Von Ahn said a teacher might not be able to offer personalised learning to each student. However, AI, on the other hand, will be able to track individual performance in real time and adjust lesson plans to suit the speed of the child. "You still need people to take care of the students but the computer can know very precisely what you're good at and bad at - something a teacher just can't track for 30 students at once." Since ChatGPT's release in 2022, AI culture has been revolutionised across the globe. Students were the early adopters of the technology and now schools and other higher education institutions are scurrying to keep up with the pace of change. As for companies such as Duolingo, AI is already a big part of their future. Last month, the language-learning platform announced that it would "gradually stop using contractors to do work that AI can handle". The company justified its switch in approach, stating that it had taken a similar call in 2012 by betting big on mobile. "I've said this in Q&As and many meetings, but I want to make it official: Duolingo is going to be Al-first. Al is already changing how work gets done. It's not a question of if or when. It's happening now," said Mr Von Ahn in the all-hands memo, posted on Duolingo's LinkedIn page. Apart from not using contractors anymore, Duolingo will use AI to evaluate performance reviews. Additionally, headcounts will only be given if a team cannot automate more of their work.
Business Insider
14-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Duolingo's CEO has 3 criteria for deciding what topics to add — and explains why Pokémon and coding didn't make the cut
Duo the owl can't teach everything. Duolingo's CEO, Luis von Ahn, said the company has three criteria to decide what subjects to add. The app started with languages and has expanded to math, music, and chess. "We debate a lot about what subjects to teach," von Ahn said in a talk at Stanford Graduate School of Business published last week. "There's a few things that we need them to do." The company's first requirement is that there needs to be a "very large demand" — at least hundreds of millions of people who are interested in learning that topic, Von Ahn said. "For example, even coding, there's only about 20 million people in the world that either want to learn coding or are learning coding. That's just not a very large number," von Ahn said. The subjects should also be teachable on a mobile app, he added. The company had 46.6 million daily active users in the first quarter, a 49% jump from last year. The company offers courses in about 40 languages, including some that have a declining number of speakers. Duolingo's second criterion is that it will only teach subjects that benefit the world. "Turns out a lot of people want to learn like Pokémon cards," the CEO said. "We're not going to do that. So we want it to be good for the world." Von Ahn, who cofounded the company in 2011, has said that making education free and accessible has always been Duolingo's mission. During the Stanford talk, von Ahn said that one of his regrets when growing the company was monetizing it three years too late because he thought "making money was evil." The CEO said his third requirement for what subjects are added has to do with the team's motivation. "We need somebody or a small group of people inside the company to be excited about this, to actually go work on it," von Ahn said. He said that employees began developing chess — which launches this week — eight months ago. "It got started by two people, neither of whom knew how to code and neither of whom knew how to play chess," he said. Late last month, von Ahn made headlines for outlining all the ways he plans to integrate AI at the company, including for hiring and evaluation decisions. Duolingo is on a tear. The company's stock has risen 198% in the past year because of AI and continued growth in both free and premium users.
Time of India
29-04-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Duolingo CEO's all-hands email to employee says 'we are becoming AI-First', and these jobs will go
Luis von Ahn, the CEO of Duolingo Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn has announced a significant strategic shift for the company, declaring a move towards an 'AI-first' operational model. In a memo to employees, shared on LinkedIn, Von Ahn underscored Duolingo's commitment to the swift and comprehensive integration of artificial intelligence into its workflows. He also clarified that this transition will lead to the elimination of certain job roles that can be effectively automated by AI. 'We can't wait until the technology is 100% perfect. We'd rather move with urgency and take occasional small hits on quality than move slowly and miss the moment,' he said in the memo. 'Al isn't just a productivity boost. It helps us get closer to our mission. To teach well, we need to create a massive amount of content, and doing that manually doesn't scale. One of the best decisions we made recently was replacing a slow, manual content creation process with one powered by Al. Without Al, it would take us decades to scale our content to more learners. We owe it to our learners to get them this content ASAP,' he added. Duolingo CEO says some jobs will be gone As per the CEO's memo, the strategic shift will affect three key areas: a 'gradual' cessation of reliance on contractors for tasks automatable by AI, the incorporation of employees' AI proficiency into hiring processes and performance evaluations, and a policy where team expansion will only be considered if further automation proves insufficient. We'll be rolling out a few constructive constraints to help guide this shift: We'll gradually stop using contractors to do work that Al can handle Al use will be part of what we look for in hiring Al use will be part of what we evaluate in performance reviews Headcount will only be given if a team cannot automate more of their work Most functions will have specific initiatives to fundamentally change how they work This move towards AI-driven efficiency isn't new for Duolingo. The company previously reduced its contract workforce by 10% in early 2024 due to AI-powered content generation , following similar AI-related reductions in 2023. Von Ahn clarified in the recent memo, however, that this AI push is intended to augment, not replace, full-time employees.
