Once a company makes a grand declaration about its future, it’s hard to take it back, and Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn is learning that the hard way. After facing extensive backlash for its stance on AI, Duolingo’s CEO has now attempted to reel back its brash statement on becoming an AI-first platform, indicating that the company is not giving up on its employees. Unfortunately, no one seems to believe there is any truth to the statement.
Duolingo’s AI strategy shocked consumers when it was first announced, leaving many floundering at the scale of content the company was planning to generate using AI instead of contractors. The Duolingo AI announcement was met with so much resistance that the company eventually went quiet on social media as users started flooding its pages with criticism over its new AI strategy.
Despite being renowned as the company with the most successful marketing campaign to ever exist, Duolingo managed to squander the years of goodwill it built up with its audience—even those who never used the app—and many believe there’s no going back.
Image: Is the backlash Duolingo is facing over AI warranted? (Image: Duolingo)
Duolingo Backlash on AI Causes CEO to Pivot on AI-First Identity
Let’s start with the Duolingo AI announcement that has caused such a stir in the first place. The language-learning company recently announced that it intended to become an AI-first company, and not only did this mean a substantial increase in AI-generated content, but Duolingo also made major employee cuts to eliminate those who were no longer required at the business. The company immediately rolled out over 148 courses that were generated using AI to show off just how committed they were to the cause.
The Duolingo AI strategy also included instructions to employees to try and utilize AI in their tasks as much as possible. This was followed by a statement that it would increase its headcount only if the team was unable to automate its work. Customers and employees were equally disappointed at this turn of events.
Duolingo users came out to criticize the company in hoards, explaining that they could just use AI to generate the content themselves instead of giving the app their attention.
Duolingo AI Pivot—What Did CEO Luis von Ahn Have to Say?
Following the Duolingo backlash over its AI stance, CEO Luis von Ahn responded to the criticism in a post explaining that the company was continuing to hire workers the same as before and that AI was not entirely replacing workers.
“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). 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.”
The company also released a video of CEO Luis von Ahn responding to the criticism, “Our app is so great because our employee made it. Our social media presence is so funny and unhinged not because I did that or an AI did that, its because our employees did it. So we’re going to continue having employees, and not only that, we’re actually going to be hiring more employees.” He further explained that the company was only trying to help its employees learn how to use AI to become more efficient to keep up with the times and reach more people.
Most are understandably skeptical about Duolingo’s AI pivot, suspicious that the company was trying to save face and dilute some of the negative attention. Most language learners prefer courses from linguists with years of experience mastering a language rather than an AI tool that learned the semantics of the language a week ago.
Is the Duolingo Backlash Over AI Warranted?
Duolingo’s AI strategy may be the most confident and explicit declaration of the use of AI, but it isn’t the only company, or even language learning app, to do so. Mango Languages has been offered as an alternative to “AI-first” Duolingo, but while the tool has promoted its content from “real, native-speaking humans,” it also uses AI to address some of the challenges it has faced in creating content. Another service, Busuu, also uses AI to some degree to “make better language learning more accessible to more people.”
Fintech app Klara also went all in on AI and demonstrated how it had been able to run without hiring humans for over a year. However, the company was recently forced to start hiring workers again because users wanted to interact with other humans. Most workers are already worried about AI stealing their jobs and are wary about supporting companies that are doing the same to other workers.
Google, Microsoft, and most major tech players have made the switch to pushing AI through all of their platforms and services, so Duolingo is not alone in making the switch. Duolingo’s AI controversy likely stems from how brazenly the company decided to announce the switch and the clear cost it came at—employees. Duolingo’s employee cuts and the predictions of limited roles for actual workers have been negatively received.
Duolingo’s AI Strategy Should Be a Lesson to All Businesses
In 2025 and beyond, it is obvious that we will see AI integration in most services. IBM has replaced a significant part of its HR team with its AI tool and even pharmacies are exploring how AI can be utilized in its customer-facing roles. However, customers are not excited about this change and do not want to interact with artificial bots.
Many companies that have adopted AI reportedly regret the rushed change due to their lack of clarity on how exactly to implement its capabilities. Employees have a big role to play in shaping the integration of AI successfully, which is why it is better to look at AI as a support tool to increase productivity rather than a direct strategy towards success.
As Duolingo backtracks on AI, it is very unlikely that the company will reduce how much it relies on the tool. The company may continue to hire workers to keep up the act, but AI is leading the way forward. Is the backlash towards Duolingo’s AI use fair? That’s not a question for us but for the workers and customers who feel wronged in the process, however, the company’s strategy is a clear learning moment for most businesses.
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