Duolingo CEO Denies Employee Reduction Due To AI

Duolingo did not lay off employees even though he used AI (photo: dock. unsplash)

JAKARTA CEO of Duolingo Luis von Ahn responded to criticism his company received last April. At that time, Duolingo was criticized by the public for turning to Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology.

Ahn once made a memo about Duolingo which will optimize the platform with AI. He also emphasized that the language learning application will prioritize AI in the future.

In a recent interview, Ahn said that the public misunderstood the memo about AI that he shared a few months ago. According to him, this happened because he did not provide sufficient context.

"Internally, it's not controversial," Ahn told the New York Times. "Externally, as a public company, some people assume that this (transfer to AI) is just for profit."

Ahn added that the alleged use of AI to dismiss employees was not true. He emphasized that 'that is not the goal'. He believes that the public is making the wrong assumption about his company.

The Duolingo leader stated that they had 'never laid off permanent employees', did not even intend to do so. However, Ahn does not deny that they have cut the workforce in his contractor section.

"From the start ... our contractor workforce (the number is indeed) up and down, depending on the need," Ahn explained. Fortunately, Duolingo's criticism did not have a major impact on the company's profit.

Although he was criticized by many parties, Ahn is optimistic about the potential for AI in language learning. Every Friday morning, the Duolingo team even had a special session called fraI-days to experiment with the technology they developed.