2025

In April 2025 Duolingo cofounder and CEO Luis von Ahn posted an email on LinkedIn that he had just sent to all employees at his company. He proudly announced Duolingo's new "AI-first" strategy, the company would "gradually stop using contractors to do work that AI can handle." This was no idle threat, the company had already laid off 10% of its workforce. He doubled down on his vision on a podcast, stating that "AI is a better teacher than humans" and that the future role of teachers would be reduced to providing "childcare."

The backlash was swift and fierce. Social media exploded with criticism, with many loyal users threatening to delete the app. Comments on platforms like Reddit and LinkedIn pointed out the irony of a language app, a tool for human connection devaluing the people who create its content. Duolingo couldn’t handled the massive anger on social media and simply disappeared. They deleted their Instagram and TikTok accounts with 6 million followers. A spokesperson said they were "experimenting with silence."

The CEO entered a period of frantic damage control. He was surprised by the backlash, in interviews, he backpedaled, blaming the controversy on a "lack of context" in his original statements.

This is a lesson for all the companies planning to replace employees with AI.
Don’t be a foolish owl!