Key takeaways
- Duolingo launches 148 new courses, doubling its total offerings and expanding access to popular languages.
- Courses cover languages like Spanish, French, and Mandarin, targeting over a billion potential learners globally.
- AI-driven automation allows Duolingo to phase out human contractors, adopting an 'AI-first' approach.
- New courses primarily support beginner levels, with advanced content expected in the near future.
- CEO Luis von Ahn emphasizes the positive impact of generative AI on learner experience and company scalability.
Duolingo has launched 148 new language courses, more than doubling its total offerings and marking the company’s largest content expansion to date. The rollout significantly broadens access to the company’s most popular non-English languages, making them available in all 28 user interface languages supported by the app.
The expansion includes new courses for Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Mandarin, aimed at over a billion potential learners across Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Most of the courses support beginner levels (CEFR A1–A2) and include features such as Stories for reading comprehension and DuoRadio for listening skills. Advanced content is expected in the coming months.
“This is a great example of how generative AI can directly benefit our learners,” said Luis von Ahn, CEO and co-founder of Duolingo. “This launch reflects the incredible impact of our AI and automation investments, which have allowed us to scale at unprecedented speed and quality.”
This development comes after Duolingo announced it will phase out human contractors for tasks that can be handled by AI, as part of a broader shift to an “AI-first” approach.
Ahn communicated to staff that the company will “gradually stop using contractors to do work that AI can handle,” and that new hires will only be considered if a team cannot automate more of its work.
Duolingo’s new shared content system enables the company to build a high-quality base course and quickly adapt it across multiple languages. According to Jessie Becker, senior director of learning design, “It used to take a small team years to build a single new course from scratch. Now, by using generative AI to create and validate content, we’re able to focus our expertise where it’s most impactful.”
The new courses improve access to Asian languages. In Latin America, Spanish and Portuguese speakers can now learn Japanese, Korean, and Mandarin. In Europe, learners who speak French, German, Italian, and Spanish have access to these languages as well. In Asia, speakers of 12 local languages — including Hindi, Tamil, and Thai — can now learn all of Duolingo’s seven top languages.
