AI Will Revolutionize Education, But Schools Will Stay for Childcare – Duolingo CEO
Duolingo founder and CEO Luis von Ahn believes computers can teach almost anything, but schools won’t disappear because society still needs childcare. Speaking on the No Priors podcast, von Ahn argued that AI’s precision and Duolingo’s insights into human motivation enable a new, scalable approach to learning that surpasses traditional teaching methods.
The language-learning app has been aggressively integrating AI, even replacing its CEO with an AI avatar during a 2023 earnings call. Last month, it took a more controversial step by announcing it would permanently replace contract workers with AI.
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Now, Duolingo has even bigger ambitions. With 116 million monthly users, the company has gathered vast data on learning patterns, mastering techniques to keep users engaged long-term, even predicting test scores before students take them. According to von Ahn, AI’s ability to personalize education means most teaching could be handled by computers within decades.
“Ultimately, I’m not sure there’s anything computers can’t really teach you,”he said on No Priors. He predicts a radical shift in education, as “it’s just a lot more scalable to teach with AI than with teachers.”
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However, he clarified that teachers and schools won’t vanish:
“You still need people to take care of the students… I also don’t think schools are going to go away, because you still need childcare.”
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When host Sarah Guo asked if schools might become childcare centers while students learn via apps like Duolingo, von Ahn replied, “I think it’s going to be something like that.”
He acknowledged that Duolingo’s quiz-based model isn’t ideal for all subjects, history, for example, might benefit from well-produced videos, which AI currently struggles with. Still, he believes scalability favors AI.
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If it’s one teacher and 30 students, each teacher can’t give individualized attention. But the computer can… with very precise knowledge of what each student is good or bad at,” he said.
Duolingo’s CFO echoed this last year, stating that AI helps replicate a good teacher’s role, guiding learning, maintaining engagement, and identifying weaknesses.
With years of data from millions of users, Duolingo has run over 16,000 A/B tests, refining everything from reminder timing to exercise difficulty to keep learners motivated.
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Some schools are already embracing AI. Newsweek recently featured Alpha School, a private K-12 chain where students learn for just two hours daily with AI assistance. Teachers, called “guides,” focus on emotional and motivational support rather than lesson planning or grading. The school, with four locations and eight more planned, charges $40,000 to $65,000 annually.
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As former President Donald Trump’s recent executive order pushes for AI in education, more schools may soon adopt the technology.
