Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn has addressed the backlash surrounding his earlier statement that the company would become an “AI-first company,” saying the controversy stemmed from a lack of context.

In an interview with The New York Times, von Ahn explained that the internal reaction to his memo was not controversial, but it was widely misunderstood externally. “Internally, this was not controversial,” he said. “Externally, as a publicly traded company, some people assume that it’s just for profit. Or that we’re trying to lay off humans. And that was not the intent at all.”

The CEO emphasized that Duolingo has “never laid off any full-time employees” and does not plan to do so. While acknowledging that the company has reduced its contractor workforce at times, von Ahn noted that such adjustments have always been based on operational needs. “From the beginning, our contractor workforce has gone up and down depending on needs,” he explained.

Despite the criticism, which he said has had little effect on Duolingo’s overall performance, von Ahn remains optimistic about the potential of artificial intelligence. According to him, the company dedicates time each week to exploring the technology. “Duolingo team members spend every Friday morning experimenting with AI,” he said, joking about the initiative’s nickname. “It’s a bad acronym, f-r-A-I-days. I don’t know how to pronounce it.”

Source: Tech Crunch