--- title: "Duolingo CEO Expresses Astonishment That People Were Mad When He Bragged About Replacing Workers With AI" description: "Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn is having major regrets after widely bragging about replacing his human staffers with AI." date: "2025-06-09" modified: "2025-06-09" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/duolingo-ceo-ai-reaction" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "artificial intelligence" - "duolingo" - "generative ai" - "translation" --- # Duolingo CEO Expresses Astonishment That People Were Mad When He Bragged About Replacing Workers With AI ![Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn is having major regrets after widely bragging about replacing his human staffers with AI.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn is having major regrets after widely bragging about replacing human workers with AI. Earlier this year, von Ahn [boasted]() that the language learning app company would "gradually stop using contractors to do work that AI can handle." At the time, the CEO said that "we can't wait until the technology is 100 percent perfect," enthusing that "we'd rather move with urgency and take occasional small hits on quality than move slowly and miss the moment." His enthusiasm for the tech was followed by a [massive outpouring of criticism](). Furious users on TikTok [announced]() they'd be deleting the app en masse, their multi-year "streak" of daily use be damned. Bafflingly, the simmering anti-AI sentiment apparently caught von Ahn by surprise. "I did not expect the amount of blowback," he admitted in an [new interview with the *Financial Times*](), arguing that social media users had mischaracterized the changes as though "Duolingo has no employees, we have fired everyone and everything is being controlled by a massive AI." Of course, if AI were advanced enough to do that, his prior remarks suggest that he absolutely would. Tech companies have embraced AI tech at all costs, driven by massive hype surrounding the tech — and consumers are quickly growing wary and frustrated. The race to replace human workers with tech hasn't sat well with many, establishing an [entire anti-AI movement](). Consumers have bristled at companies stuffing AI into virtually every aspect of their digital lives. To many, it's a race to the bottom, with AI automation undermining their livelihoods in exchange for dubious advancements in actual technical capabilities. But despite plenty of warning signs, von Ahn, a Silicon Valley mainstay whose net worth is [just shy of $2 billion](), says he didn't foresee the fallout. Last month, von Ahn went into damage control mode, [telling *Fortune*]() that "I do not see AI as replacing what our employees do" and walking back his earlier promises of using AI instead of contractors. "I see it as a tool to accelerate what we do, at the same or better level of quality," he added at the time. "And the sooner we learn how to use it, and use it responsibly, the better off we will be in the long run." This week, he told the *FT* that there will be a "very small number of hourly contractors who are doing repetitive tasks that we no longer need." "Many of these people are probably going to be offered contractor jobs for other stuff," he added in an apparent attempt to extinguish the flames. According to von Ahn, AI isn't going anywhere, blowback or not — an unsurprising stance given his immense vested interest. To the CEO, a "Black Mirror"-style dystopia where users get sucked into spending a "significant amount of time socially talking to AI" is "just inevitable," he told the *FT*. **More on Duolingo:** *[Duolingo Announces Plans to Replace as Many Human Workers as Possible With AI]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()