On this episode of No Priors, Sarah talks to Luis von Ahn, founder and CEO of Duolingo, the world’s most popular education app with over 116 million monthly users and a market cap of approximately $17 billion. Controversially, it has recently committed to being “AI-first.” They discuss why motivation is the biggest challenge in education, how Duolingo harnesses game mechanics and behavioral insights to keep learners engaged, and the company’s efforts to leverage AI to personalize education at scale. Luis also shares thoughts on the Duolingo brand, courses beyond language (chess and math), and the broader impact of AI on content creation.

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Links:

Show Notes:

0:00 Introduction

4:01  Optimizing learning behavior through tech

11:20 Adopting AI at Duolingo

17:25 AI’s threat to content companies

18:34 An unhinged corporate brand

21:28 How do people learn?

25:16 What people misunderstand about Duolingo?

26:24 How AI is transforming learning at scale

30:28 Leveraging AI across the business