Several months after announcing that Duolingo (NASDAQ: DUOL) would be taking an AI-first approach to business, CEO Luis von Ahn says the language-learning company hasn't laid off a single full-time employee. Instead, it's using AI to boost the productivity of its staff.
"Being AI-first means we will need to rethink much of how we work…In many cases, we will need to start from scratch,' von Ahn said when announcing the strategy change back in April.
This led many to worry that Duolingo would be laying off a portion of its full-time staff, something von Ahn received plenty of backlash for. It turns out that hasn't been the case thus far.
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"With the same number of people, we can make four or five times as much as content in the same amount of time, and it's because of AI" von Ahn said at the 2025 Fast Company Innovation Festival. "It's not 100% computer. There are still humans that have to direct the computer to do the right thing, but each human is able to do way more."
He added that AI helps employees churn out language, math, music, and chess lessons more quickly, which gives users more variety.
The chess course, in particular, has benefited immensely from the use of AI, van Ahn said. The course, which now has "millions and millions" of users, was pitched by two designers who had no previous knowledge of the game. Using AI tools, the pair managed to bring the course from scratch to launch in just under nine months.
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Duolingo has been slowly phasing out contract employees over the past several months, replacing them entirely with AI. van Ahn said the company has actually been hiring full-time workers, bringing up its overall headcount, at the Fast Company event.
"The goal is not to replace human employees. The goal is to do a lot more, to get closer to our mission. And that's exactly what we've been doing," he said.
The use of AI in the workplace has struck a chord with many. As major companies like Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) and CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD) have cut thousands of jobs due to AI integration, those fears have only grown.
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But Duolingo isn't alone in demonstrating that using AI doesn't necessarily have to come at the cost of human employees.
In August, Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) CEO Chuck Robbins said he wasn't in favor of using AI to shrink his workforce.
"I don't want to get rid of a bunch of people right now," Robbins told CNBC. "I just want our engineers that we have today to innovate faster and be more productive. That gives us a competitive advantage."
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