How Duolingo’s reaction to artificial intelligence illustrates the technology’s double-edged potential

More and more edtech businesses are incorporating artificial intelligence into their workflows and products with mixed results, but Duolingo’s move to go all in on AI – and the subsequent user backlash – serves as a warning to companies looking to AI to boost their bottom line. 

The language-learning goliath first raised eyebrows back in April 2025, when CEO Luis Von Ahn announced that Duolingo would go “AI-first” with the goal of scaling its content to more users and to not “miss the moment” of the new technology. The announcement spurred backlash and contributed to a dip in its stock price, which continued to plummet from its all-time high of $540 per share in May 2025, down 80% from its peak as of April 24, 2026. 

Users who paid for Duolingo complained about the worsened quality of the lessons and threatened to cancel their subscriptions, with one such user posting on Reddit that the content turned into “AI slop” and that Duolingo’s pivot to AI “really kills it.” 

While Von Ahn has walked back his statement – emphasizing that the company is using AI to “accelerate what we do, at the same or better level of quality” without replacing employees – questions still linger about what Duolingo’s future will look like in a landscape where general-use large language models like ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude can serve as customizable language tutors at the same if not cheaper price points. 

For example, Duolingo rolled out Duo Max, a $30-per-month plan that promises personalized language learning powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4, with functions like explaining answers and AI-enabled video roleplay for users to explore. However, could a motivated learner theoretically nab a $20 a month premium ChatGPT, Google AI or Claude plan instead, bypassing Duolingo entirely and still enjoy an AI-enhanced learning experience?

“I think Duolingo is going to have to be competing with these other companies,” said Eric Jackson, who teaches the Human Language Technology program at the University of Arizona’s linguistics department. “For the languages where it works well, the product feels like it’s going to be very equivalent from a learner’s perspective.”

But Jackson also cautioned that most of the world’s languages are likely underrepresented in AI model training data, which could lead to lower-quality outputs for less commonly spoken languages. For example, ChatGPT might be able to help someone learn French more accurately than Estonian. 

Here, Duolingo’s advantage could be in “artisanal” data involving humans actively designing course content, Jackson noted. Duolingo currently offers over 40 languages, including less frequently taught ones like Welsh, Catalan and Haitian Creole. 

But risks associated with branching off into AI remain for the company. Even as Duolingo touted its integration of AI to the platform in its 2025 annual report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the same report notes an extra $3.6 million investment in generative AI that contributed to the company’s 30% increase in research and development spending and “requires increased investment in computing infrastructure and related costs” in the future. 

“Our costs are continuing to grow, and some of our investments have the effect of reducing our operating margin and profitability,” the filing states. “If our investments are not successful, our business and financial performance could be harmed.”

However, Von Ahn struck an optimistic tone in the first quarter earnings call of 2026 on May 4, playing down the costs of AI investment and emphasizing its role in user experience and producing content for Duolingo. He noted that AI helped Duolingo create 10 times more course units than two years prior. 

“AI has fundamentally changed what’s possible for us,” he said. “I believe we’re just scratching the surface.”

Duolingo did not comment at the time of publication.

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