“AI-first means customers last”

Text version: https://pivot-to-ai.com/2025/05/04/duolingo-replaces-its-contractors-with-ai-courses-with-slop/

Sources:

"Below is an all-hands email from our CEO, Luis von Ahn – we are going to be AI-first." https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7322560534824865792/

Game of Tongues: How Duolingo Built A $700 Million Business With Its Addictive Language

Learning App https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2019/07/16/game-of-tongues-how-duolingo-built-a-700-million-business-with-its-addictive-language-learning-app/

Shareholder letter Q3 2023 (PDF) https://investors.duolingo.com/static-files/033ccf0a-f5ea-4897-ba7a-00b00bb48a2d

Latest tech layoffs: Twitch, Duolingo, Citrix parent ditch hundreds of workers (2024) https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/11/twitch_employee_layoff/

Duolingo More Than Doubles Courses as ‘AI-First’ Push Draws Heat https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-30/duolingo-more-than-doubles-courses-as-ai-first-push-draws-heat

Previously on Pivot to AI:

AI coding tools ‘fix’ bugs by adding bugs https://pivot-to-ai.com/2025/03/19/ai-coding-tools-fix-bugs-by-adding-bugs/

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnzkgDt-d3o&list=UU9rJrMVgcXTfa8xuMnbhAEA

Generative AI: ‘no significant impact on earnings or recorded hours in any occupation’ https://pivot-to-ai.com/2025/04/29/generative-ai-no-significant-impact-on-earnings-or-recorded-hours-in-any-occupation/

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiJ7X8Bu9wk&list=UU9rJrMVgcXTfa8xuMnbhAEA&index=1

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