Unreasonable Leadership and Language Learning Innovation

Luis von Ahn was a tenured professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University who had sold a company to Google. “You were pretty set, a lot of us would say, so why were you so hungry to build something new with Duolingo?” asks Ayesha Karnik, MBA ’25. 

“For the first time ever, with phones, we can reach billions of people,” reflects the Duolingo co-founder and CEO. “I want it to be the case that we can show that screen time is actually useful for the world.” 

From human-computer interaction and pioneering early 2000s consumer tech gamification to his thoughts on leadership and the future of AI, von Ahn shares his unique perspective on where he’s been, what he’s working on today, and the future of learning. 

There’s also that unpredictable owl mascot. “I wouldn’t say our brand is ‘chaos,’ okay?” he jokes. “We call it wholesome unhinged.”

This episode was recorded on May 5, 2025.

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