Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn is clarifying comments that sparked controversy earlier this year, after he declared the company would become an “AI-first” organization.
In a new interview with The New York Times, von Ahn said the uproar stemmed from a lack of context: “Internally, this was not controversial. 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.”
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He emphasized that Duolingo has “never laid off any full-time employees” and does not plan to. While the company has scaled its contractor workforce up and down, von Ahn described that as part of normal operations.
Despite the backlash, von Ahn remains bullish on AI, noting that employees dedicate Friday mornings to experimenting with the technology, a practice he jokingly dubbed “f-r-AI-days.”
