Duolingo has announced the launch of 148 new language courses created with generative artificial intelligence, marking a significant milestone in the company’s history. This expansion more than doubles Duolingo’s current offering and is specifically built to cater to beginner-level learners. Duolingo’s core business model is based on quickly scaling its content. The creation of courses like these is just one example of how AI is making this possible.
Luis von Ahn, co-founder and CEO of Duolingo, said that AI has been the most transformative change the company has experienced in how it operates. AI isn’t only a productivity tool,” he said. Creating a new language course would usually take several years. Thanks to AI, Duolingo is now able to release three or four courses in less than a year!
The latest expansions further include in-demand and culturally significant languages such as Japanese and Korean, in turn reflecting the global audience that’s passionate and hungry to learn. These courses are basic and introductory, which is what we need. Over the next few months, Duolingo will add more intermediate and advanced content to boost its educational offerings.
“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,” – Luis von Ahn
This monumental launch represents the biggest expansion of content ever in Duolingo’s history. The mission-driven company sees AI as their secret weapon to better connect with more learners. “To teach well, we need to create a massive amount of content, and doing that manually doesn’t scale,” von Ahn remarked. Without AI, he concluded, it would take decades for Duolingo to scale its educational offerings.
The resulting expansion and excitement has encouraged a lot of other users. Others worry about the company’s alternative innovation, which is to replace its contractors with AI that would do the commonly human-driven work. Reports indicate that most users have already deleted the app. They’re putting real pressure on other municipalities to follow suit, reflecting their disappointment with the national trend towards increasing automation.
To her credit, Duolingo has heard this criticism. The company isn’t wavering on its big move, asserting that moving out of the cumbersome, manual content development pipeline is one of its smartest recent moves. The company aims to ensure that learners receive educational content promptly and efficiently.