Duolingo's 'AI-first' memo triggers user backlash and app-deletion campaign

Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn posted a companywide memo on LinkedIn announcing that the language-learning company would become “AI-first,” saying it would gradually stop using contractors for work that AI could handle and that teams would only be approved to hire a new person once they had shown they could not automate the role away. The memo also said AI use would factor into staff performance reviews.

The reaction was immediate and largely hostile. Social media filled with criticism, and a visible contingent of long-time users announced they were deleting the app in protest, treating Duolingo as a case study in AI-driven job displacement. Journalists covering the episode noted that the company had already reduced its contractor workforce in prior rounds — cutting translators in late 2023 and writers in October 2024 — so the policy itself was not new; what changed was making the strategy explicit and public.

Von Ahn responded within days, writing that the memo “didn’t give enough context” and stating that Duolingo had never laid off a full-time employee since its founding, with full-time headcount continuing to grow. The episode became one of the most widely cited flashpoints in public anxiety over AI’s effect on jobs during 2025 — less because of what Duolingo actually did, which was consistent with contractor reductions already under way, than because a CEO said the quiet part about AI and headcount out loud.