'I think this is on me. I did not give enough context,' CEO says
Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn has clarified that the company has not laid off any full-time employees since announcing its AI-first strategy in April.
"We have never done a layoff. We have not laid off a single full-time employee. This just hasn't happened," Von Ahn said during the Fast Company Innovation Festival 2025.
The CEO made the clarification after the company announced in April that it would gradually stop using contractors to do work that AI can handle as part of its "AI-first" strategy.
The announcement triggered a strong reaction from social media, where people speculated that the strategy meant replacing people with AI.
"It really struck a nerve. And I think honestly, I think this is on me. I mean, I did not give enough context," Von Ahn said during the festival.
"I think there's just a lot of people really ready to hear this news that: 'AI, it's going to replace everyone.' And I should have given enough context to say that's not the goal.
"The goal is not to save money. The goal is not to replace human employees. The goal is to do a lot more and get closer to our mission."
According to the CEO, the company has been hiring since its AI-first announcement and now has a larger pool of employees.
He further highlighted that employees are now able to make "four or five times as much content in the same amount of time" because of AI.
"It's not 100% computer. There's still - humans have to still kind of direct the computer to do the right thing, but each human is able to do way more," he said.
"In over the last year, most of the content that's being put out is, I don't know the exact fraction, but mostly done by AI."
Impact of AI on jobs
Von Ahn's remarks come as other organisations announce that they are planning to reduce headcount as AI gets more embedded in their organisations.
Accenture announced in September it would cut staff unable to adapt to AI roles and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned in May that AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs and increase unemployment by up to 20% in the next one to five years.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told his employees in June to expect a reduction in the total corporate workforce "in the next few years" amid AI implementation.
A report from the World Economic Forum in January even revealed that 41% of employers plan to downsize their workforce where AI can replicate people's work.
But a greater percentage of employers said they plan to reskill and upskill their workforce to better work alongside AI (77%).
White House AI Czar David Sacks, has also said AI implementation will not lead to a giant wave of unemployment.
