The Morning Brief

Corner Office Conversation with Luis Von Ahn CEO & Co-founder at Duolingo

May 13, 2025

Luis von Ahn, CEO and co-founder of Duolingo and the inventor of CAPTCHA, shares his insights on transforming education through gamified language learning. He discusses Duolingo's creative strategies, including their quirky owl mascot and humorous marketing. The conversation highlights the role of AI in education, exploring its potential to enhance rather than replace human learning. Luis also addresses challenges in monetization, especially in India, and the platform's exciting expansion into math and music.

23:55

Creator website

Episode guests

Luis von Ahn

AI Summary

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Luis von Ahn's journey from CAPTCHA inventor to Duolingo co-founder highlights the importance of gamification in making language learning accessible and enjoyable.

By integrating AI technology alongside user engagement strategies, Duolingo strives to enhance education while addressing the needs of diverse learning markets.

Deep dives

Luis Van Ahn's Journey and Duolingo's Creation

Luis Van Ahn, a math prodigy and co-founder of Duolingo, transitioned from academia to entrepreneurship with the vision of making language learning accessible and enjoyable. His experience with CAPTCHA, which he invented to combat bots, informed his approach in creating engaging educational tools. Initially, the app faced design challenges, as early modules for Spanish and German were perceived as boring. By incorporating gamification elements like short, interactive lessons and rewards, Duolingo transformed into a fun platform that now boasts over 131 million active users worldwide.

Intro

2min

Duolingo's Creative Evolution

6min

The Future of Language Learning in the Age of AI

2min

Navigating User Engagement and Monetization Challenges in India

2min

Language Learning in a Digital Age

12min

From Carnegie Mellon classrooms to a global cultural phenomenon, this episode of The Morning Brief traces the journey of Luis von Ahn, math prodigy, inventor of CAPTCHA, and now the CEO and co-founder of Duolingo. Hosts Anirban Chowdhury and ET’s Deputy news editor Himani Kothari explore how Luis’s early work fighting bots evolved into a business to democratize education through gamified language learning. What began with a Spanish course and a German prototype has grown into a plus 500-million-user platform, driven by Duolingo’s bite-sized lessons, quirky owl mascot, and irreverent marketing strategy. The conversation delves into the company’s expansion into math, music and chess, its partnership with OpenAI, and the creative freedom that powers its viral success.
As AI becomes central to the future of learning, Luis weighs its potential to enhance not replace human education. Can platforms like Duolingo balance fun, function, and cultural impact in a world increasingly shaped by algorithms?

Tune in:

You can follow Anirban Chowdhury on his Linkedin, Twitter profiles and read his Newspaper Articles.

You can follow Himani Kothari on her Linkedin, Twitter profiles and read his Newspaper Articles.

If you like this episode, check out more Corner Office Conversations from the podcast: Adar Poonawalla, Sandip Patel, The Mega Listing Of Vishal Retail, Antonoaldo Neves, Rajesh Jejurikar, Srikanth Velamakanni, and more!

Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on ET Play, The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.