Duolingo, the popular language-learning app, has launched 148 new courses, more than doubling its offerings. The app is heavily leveraging artificial intelligence to drive growth.
The expansion, announced Wednesday, coincides with backlash over the company’s use of AI to replace some contract workers, raising concerns about job displacement in the tech industry.
The new offerings, which include pairings like Japanese for Portuguese speakers, German for Hindi speakers, and French for Mandarin speakers, bring Duolingo’s total number of courses to more than 240, according to a company press release. AI has helped the company expand its content to cater to diverse global learners, opening new learning options for more than a billion potential learners worldwide.
“Developing our first 100 courses took about 12 years, and now, in about a year, we’re able to create and launch nearly 150 new courses. This is a great example of how generative AI can directly benefit our learners,” Luis von Ahn, CEO and co-founder of Duolingo, said in a press release. “This launch reflects the incredible impact of our AI and automation investments, which have allowed us to scale at unprecedented speed and quality.”
Duolingo is planning to go “all in” on AI technology, using it for more than just content creation, according to a memo sent by Ahn to company employees. The firm will begin integrating AI into its HR process, performance reviews, and other work processes. Ahn said the company will no longer use “contractors to do the work AI can handle.”
Duolingo’s “AI-first” strategy has sparked concerns about job losses for human workers. In January 2024, the company laid off about 10% of its contract workers, similar to cuts it made in 2023, Business Insider reported. However, Ahn said in the memo that AI will not replace the company’s full-time employees, adding that “Duolingo will remain a company that cares deeply about its employees.
“This isn’t about replacing Duos with AI,” he wrote. “It’s about removing bottlenecks so we can do more with the outstanding Duos we already have.”