On the latest episode of Executive Exchange, Leadership Editor and Host Ruth Umoh sits down with cofounder and CTO of Duolingo Severin Hacker to discuss how AI can help with learning new languages, its popular owl mascot Duo, and why the company is now offering math and music lessons.

Severin talks about how he got his start in Switzerland and wanted to take the opportunity to learn in the U.S. after going to university in his native country. He took that chance as a foreign exchange student and went to study at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. When he got there, he met Luis von Ahn, who was a consulting professor in the Computer Science Department at the time, before he became cofounder and CEO of Duolingo.

Severin says that his Duolingo work was the first and only full-time job he's ever had. He's endured tough times with the company, sharing that in the first five years of the business Duolingo made no revenue. That's when they decided to launch Super, which is a freemium subscription to the platform.

Severin also talks about using AI within the company by introducing a feature called Roleplay where you can interact with a server at a restaurant in another language and learn to speak the language you're learning. He also touches on the layoffs Duolingo has had earlier in 2024, stating that all the layoffs were only done to freelance contractors because of AI's capabilities within the company.

Plus, Severin shares how Duolingo is making the jump from teaching languages to now teaching music and math to users on the platform. They believe that learning by doing will lend itself well to those subjects for people.

Finally, Severin dives into the creation of their mascot Duo, and how using the owl in their TikToks skyrocketed their popularity on the media platform to new heights.