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Duolingo will transform its language learning app into an automated AI teacher

Duolingo will transform its language learning app into an automated AI teacher

IBL News | new York

Luis Von Ahn, CEO and founder of Duolingo, announced that he plans to transform his language learning app into an automated AI teacher.

This month, Duolingo introduced a video chat that allows people to practice speaking in other languages ​​with an AI friend, Lily, an early version of a fully automated tutor.

Chatting with Lily – a purple-haired, sarcastic cartoon AI woman – requires purchasing a subscription called Duolingo Max for $30 per month. The dialog is generated by OpenAI's GPT-4o model.

Like a human tutor, Lily learns more about the user with each session. Duolingo also tries not to discourage users by having Lily correct their pronunciation or grammar, knowing that the fear of making mistakes intimidates users.

As long as the AI “understands” Whatever the user says, conversations continue without these reprimands. The company said it intentionally kept conversations short to keep participants engaged, limiting them to about a minute for beginners and two and a half minutes for advanced users.

Lily follows specific prompting techniques and content moderation guidelines to keep AI responses on track.

Another new AI addition is a mini-game called adventurethat places users in interactive situations where they can practice their language skills, such as ordering a coffee at a cafe or checking their passport.

As for its organization, Duolingo decided in 2023 not to renew the contracts of 10% of its contract staff who did translation and lesson writing. In many cases, the company decided to use AI for these tasks.

• “If we can automate something, we will” told by Ahn Forbes. “The work of a full-time employee is difficult to automate. But we had some contractors who worked on an hourly basis and did fairly routine things.” said Luis von Ahn.

• “AI will bring difficult situations that will impact the poor and the less educated,” he said. “And not just in the USA, but also in poor countries.”

• “AI would be good for the world in general,” he said. “It could put individual teachers out of business. I understand that. But I think Net-Net is better if everyone has access to one.”

• “AI will make computers better teachers than humans.”

The AI ​​push led Duolingo to a revenue increase of $178.3 million last quarter, up 41% year-over-year.

The company has a market valuation of $11.75 billion, with Von Ahn owning around 10%.

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