AI Strategy & Vision - Duolingo's CEO issued a memo four months prior calling for the company to become "AI first," halting contractor use for tasks AI could handle and limiting headcount increases to situations where automation is impossible [1] - The company views AI, particularly after the emergence of GD4, as a massive opportunity to provide education as effective as one-on-one human tutoring but at a much lower cost [4][6] - Duolingo aims to build new products that were previously impossible before AI, drawing an analogy to Uber's reliance on smartphone technology [11][12][13] - The company defines "AI first" as leveraging AI to teach better, rather than solely focusing on productivity gains or using AI tools for their own sake [10] AI Implementation & Adoption - Duolingo is most excited about its "video call with Lily" feature, which aims to provide conversation practice and was not feasible before AI [14][15] - To encourage internal adoption of AI tools, Duolingo measured tool adoption, dedicated "AI Fridays" for exploration, and held mandatory training sessions, resulting in 100% adoption of tools like Cursor and GitHub Copilot [17][18][19] Measuring Productivity & ROI - Duolingo acknowledges the difficulty in directly measuring software engineer productivity, using metrics like the number of experiments launched as proxies [26][27][29] - The company recognizes that coding is not always the bottleneck, so a 30% increase in coding speed due to AI does not translate to a 30% overall productivity boost [27][28] Future Development & Challenges - Duolingo expanded its course offerings by launching over 100 courses this year, thanks to AI, which would have previously taken decades or centuries [33] - The company emphasizes the importance of engagement and motivation in language learning, as learners often give up, and aims to build AI-powered features that are both effective and engaging [36][37] - Duolingo believes that the generation coming out of school is the first AI-first generation, and the company is hiring more of these people [42]