I said it during questions and many meetings, but I want it to be official: AI-Pirst will be Duolingo.
Ai is already changing the way of work. This is not a question whether and when. This is happening now. When such a large change occurs, the worst thing you can do is wait. In 2012, we bet on a mobile phone. While others focused on the applications accompanying mobile for websites, we decided to build the first mobile, because we saw it was the future. This decision helped us win the application of the year on the iPhone 2013 and unlocked the attitude to the lips that took place.
Setting for mobile devices made a difference. Now we make a similar connection and this time the change of platform is artificial intelligence.
And this is not only an raise in performance. It helps us get closer to our mission. To teach well, we must create a huge amount of content, and doing it manually does not scale. One of the best decisions we have recently made was to replace a tardy, manual process of creating content using AI. Without artificial intelligence, it would take us a decade to scale our content to more students. We owe our students to get this content as soon as possible.
AI also helps us build functions such as a video connection that could not be built before. For the first time teaching, as well as the best human tutors are within our reach.
Being the first AI means that we will have to think about a lot of how we work. Making minor corrections to systems designed for people. In many cases, we will have to start from scratch. We do not intend to rebuild everything overnight, and some things similar to AI to understand our code require time. However, we can’t wait for the technology 100% perfect. We would prefer to move with an urgent need and from time to time take diminutive hit on quality than slowly move and miss a moment.
We will introduce several constructive restrictions to support in conducting this change:
We will gradually stop using contractors to work, which AI can advise
The employ of AI will be part of what we are looking for during employment
The employ of AI will be part of what we assess in performance reviews
The head will be given only if the team cannot automate more of their work
Most of the functions will have specific initiatives to fundamentally change the way it works
He said all this Duolingo will remain a company that cares deeply for its employees. This is not about replacing artificial intelligence duets. It’s about removing bottlenecks so that we can do more with an outstanding duo that we already have. We want you to focus on original work and real problems, not repetitive tasks. We support you in more training, mentoring and artificial intelligence tools in your function.
The change can be terrifying, but I’m sure it will be a great step for Duolingo. It will support us better implement our mission – and for Duos means overtaking the curve in using this technology to do things.
-Luis