When Duolingo declared it would become an “AI-first” company earlier this year, many assumed that job cuts were inevitable. Yet five months later, the language-learning giant has taken a different path whereby leveraging AI to supercharge productivity while keeping its full-time workforce intact.
At the Fast Company Innovation Festival 2025, co-founder and CEO Luis von Ahn said that AI is allowing the company to produce lessons far more efficiently without replacing people. “With the same number of people, we can make four or five times as much content in the same amount of time,” he explained. “There are still humans that have to direct the computer to do the right thing, but each human is able to do way more.”
According to von Ahn, Duolingo is using AI to accelerate the creation of content across language, math, music, and even chess lessons. While contractors have been gradually phased out, the company has never laid off a full-time employee since its founding in 2009—and has actually grown its headcount since announcing the AI pivot in April.
This approach stands in contrast to other tech firms that have leaned on AI as a justification for layoffs. Giants like Salesforce and CrowdStrike have used automation to reduce staff while maintaining output. By contrast, Duolingo, with a market cap of $12.73 billion, is betting on growth. “The goal is not to save money. The goal is not to replace human employees,” said von Ahn. “The goal is to do a lot more … with a slightly larger number of employees.”
The strategy seems to be working. In August, Duolingo raised its 2025 revenue projections to up to $1.02 billion, compared to its earlier estimate of $996.6 million. Among its AI-driven initiatives are Lily, an AI agent for conversational language practice over video calls, and chess lessons, which emerged from a creative AI experiment within the company.
Von Ahn’s comments echo those of other executives resisting the narrative that AI equals mass layoffs. Cisco Systems CEO Chuck Robbins told CNBC in August: “I don’t want to get rid of a bunch of people right now. I just want our engineers that we have today to innovate faster and be more productive. That gives us a competitive advantage.” Still, Robbins acknowledged the long-term uncertainty: “It’s early.”