Luis von Ahn, who grew up with little money in Guatemala, aims to transform the popular language-learning app into an automated AI tutor.
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Here's your Forbes daily briefing for Friday, September 27th. Today on Forbes, Duolingo's billionaire founder is all in on AI. Sitting in Duos, Takeria, a dimly lit upscale Mexican restaurant in Pittsburgh, Luis Van An contemplates the end of work as we know it. In between bites of Al pastor tacos and sips of a margarita, Van An, founder and CEO of the language learning app Duolingo, talks about how AI will make some jobs disappear, and workers will need to be retrained. He speaks from experience. Late last year, Duolingo decided not to renew the contracts of about 10% of its contracted workforce who did translations and lesson writing, instead opting to use AI for those tasks in some cases. Of the dismissals, Van An said, "Our stance as a company is that if we can automate something, we will. A full time employee's job is very hard to automate, but we had some hourly contractors who were doing pretty rote stuff." While he firmly believes it was the right call for his company, he's cognizant of the broader problems AI will bring. He said, "It's a tough situation that will affect the poor, the less educated, and not just in the US, but in poor countries." From a table in the back of the restaurant, which was originally designed by Duolingo as a place where diners could practice their Spanish, he notes it will require smart regulation from world governments to make sure AI is equitable. But he doesn't have much faith in the US. He said, "It's just very hard right now to imagine that the US is going to legislate this well, given that they can't agree on anything." But longer term, Van An is optimistic that AI could unlock new possibilities for learning, bringing high-quality education to the masses. He thinks languages can help lift people out of poverty, noting that, for non-native speakers, learning English instantly broadens a person's earning potential and opens up a whole new world of jobs. He sees Duolingo on the forefront of the transition to AI-powered learning, with the ultimate moonshot of creating an automated AI tutor that can teach anyone a foreign language. He has also said that he thinks AI will make computers better teachers than humans. Earlier this past week, Duolingo unveiled its first step in that direction, an interactive feature in which users partake in video calls with Lily, one of Duolingo's beloved mascots, Purple-haired, sarcastic, cartoon woman. Chatting with Lily allows people to practice conversing in other languages as if face-timing with an AI friend, with dialogue generated by OpenAI's GPT-4O model. It's part of a $30 a month subscription tier, called Duolingo Max, which the company debuted last year for its premium AI features, including one that tells people why they answered a question wrong during a lesson. Another new AI edition is a mini-game called Adventures, which puts users in interactive situations to practice their language skills, like ordering a coffee from a cafe or getting their passport checked. The new features are the latest wave of tools from a generative AI push the company began last year. The AI push by Duolingo, which went public in 2022, has translated into a surge of users and revenue. Almost 104 million people take language, math and music lessons on the app each month, up 40% year over year. This past quarter, revenue hit $178.3 million, up 41% from last year. The company's stock hit an all-time high last Monday of $270, vaulting the company to an $11.75 billion market cap. Vanan, who owns roughly 10% of the company, is now a billionaire, along with his co-founder Severin Hacker. And while business is booming right now, competitors are also investing in AI. Babble, for example, last year debuted a speech recognition feature that learns a user's voice to evaluate their pronunciation. And Rosetta Stone also added AI-powered language assessment exams used in enterprise settings. For full coverage, check out Richard Nieva's piece on Forbes.com. This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes. Thanks for tuning in. [BLANK_AUDIO]
