AI can't match our designers' creativity and polish: Duolingo CEO

Duolingo's CEO Luis von Ahn said his company won't force AI adoption where it undermines creative quality, reversing a controversial policy that measured employee performance based on AI usage frequency. 

In an appearance on the Rapid Response podcast on Tuesday, von Ahn acknowledged that while AI excels at some tasks, "for some things, it's just not" ready for high-quality work. The company won't sacrifice design craft to meet AI usage quotas.

Design is Duolingo's primary concern. The company employs numerous artists and designers whose work defines the app's user experience. Von Ahn emphasised that Duolingo's design remains "very high-craft," and AI simply hasn't caught up. "We're just not seeing AI get to the level of creativity or the level of polish that our top people have, by any means," he said.

Duolingo's distinctive visual identity attracts millions of daily users. Deploying AI-generated designs could damage that competitive advantage.

Last April, Duolingo announced it would evaluate employee performance partly based on AI usage. The policy backfired. Employees began using AI in situations where it didn't improve their work, prioritising metrics over quality. Von Ahn acknowledged the mistake directly: "I don't think that was right," he said, noting that the blanket evaluation policy was "not needed."

The company no longer measures its employee performance on the basis of AI usage. As explained by Von Ahn, not all employees need AI tools, and it was wrong to impose the AI system on everyone because that would cause misaligned incentives.