On Wednesday, Duolingo unveiled 148 new language courses created through its proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) technology. This significant launch follows the recent announcement by the company’s CEO regarding a strategic pivot towards an AI-first approach. The newly introduced courses more than double the platform’s existing offerings and were developed in less than a year, showcasing the accelerated capabilities of generative AI.
Duolingo Introduces New AI-Generated Language Courses
According to a newsroom post, this marks the largest expansion of content in the company’s history. Typically, the development of a single new language course could take several years, but the integration of AI has dramatically sped up this timeline, the announcement noted.
“It took us about 12 years to develop our first 100 courses, and now we are able to create and launch nearly 150 new courses in just about a year. This exemplifies how generative AI can provide immediate benefits to our learners,” commented Luis von Ahn, CEO and co-founder of Duolingo.
This expansion now allows speakers of Duolingo’s seven most popular non-English languages—French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, and Spanish—to access courses in all 28 supported user interface (UI) languages. The company believes this enhancement could open up language learning opportunities for over a billion potential users worldwide.
Under its AI-first strategy, Duolingo is adopting a new framework termed “shared content systems.” This approach focuses on developing a high-quality base course that can be tailored for various languages.
The latest offerings enable speakers of Spanish and Portuguese (Latin America) to study Japanese, Korean, and Mandarin, while speakers of most European languages can also explore these Asian languages. Furthermore, speakers of Asian languages now have access to all of the platform’s top seven non-English language courses, which were previously limited to English only.
Earlier this week, the Duolingo CEO shared an email with employees emphasizing the necessity of transitioning to an AI-first model. This strategy includes a reduction in reliance on contract workers for tasks that can be automated with AI. Additionally, the company intends to prioritize AI skills in its hiring processes and incorporate technology usage into employee performance evaluations.
