WSJ Tech News Briefing

Episode Title: Inside Duolingo’s Controversial ‘AI-First’ Strategy
Date: September 23, 2025
Host: Katie Dayton (WSJ)
Featured Guest: Severin Hacker, Chief Technology Officer, Duolingo
Interviewer: Bell Lin, WSJ Leadership Institute

Brief Overview

This episode dives into two major topics: first, the shockwaves in the tech industry following a Trump administration overhaul of the H1B visa program; and second, an in-depth conversation with Duolingo’s CTO Severin Hacker about the company’s controversial "AI-first" strategy, its internal and external fallout, and what the future of AI-powered language learning could look like.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. H1B Visa Overhaul and Tech Industry Fallout (00:34–05:13)

• Context:
  The Trump administration introduced a sweeping change to the H1B visa process—adding a steep $100,000 application fee for new visas, stoking uncertainty and chaos among tech workers and companies.
• Impact:
  • Companies Most Affected: Major tech firms like Amazon, Google, Tesla, and especially smaller startups relying on skilled foreign talent.
  • Employee Scramble: Reports emerged of frantic flights back to the US, hurried meetings, and personal sacrifices (“Do I gamble my career or risk missing family emergencies?”).
• Clarification & Remaining Concerns:
  • The fee applies only to new visas, not renewals or current holders.
  • The $100,000 is a one-time fee.
  • Uncertainty remains, especially for smaller tech companies unable to shoulder the cost.
• Long-term Concerns:
  • The policy may create a “haves and have-nots” dynamic: “Are tech companies going to just say we'll only pay for certain stars and the rest will just figure out how to hire a US worker or outsource some other way?” (Ray Smith, 04:41)

2. Inside Duolingo’s “AI-First” Company Pivot (06:05–11:26)

A. The Origin of Duolingo’s AI-First Memo and the Backlash

• The Memo’s Fallout:
  The CEO’s company-wide “AI First” memo sparked controversy, with staff and users worrying about potential layoffs and the loss of human influence in language education.

  • “[The] memo… was controversial because of its perceived stance on favoring AI instead of humans.” (Bell Lin, 06:31)

• CTO Severin Hacker’s Response:

  • Duolingo’s mission is to make high-quality education universally available.
  • The AI revolution (especially with tools like GPT-4) represents “a massive, massive opportunity for us.”
  • Human one-on-one tutoring is the gold standard for learning, but it's expensive; AI can democratize that level of quality at dramatically reduced costs.
  • “If we all had infinite resources, that’s how we would learn…and now, for the first time with AI, we believe we can achieve our mission.” (Severin Hacker, 07:19)

B. What Does “AI-First” Mean in Practice?

• Definition & Vision:
  • Most companies use AI for productivity and support, but Duolingo aims to use AI to build entirely new products that simply weren’t possible before.
  • Analogy: The shift from just having a mobile companion app to building something that couldn’t exist without smartphones—like Uber.
  • “What is the product that you couldn't have built before AI?” (Severin Hacker, 09:13)

C. Implementation: New AI Features at Duolingo

• Example Feature:
  • "Video Call with Lily": An AI-powered conversation partner, now in major languages, for natural language practice.
  • “We have this feature with the Call with Lily and you can talk to her… a feature we couldn’t have built before AI. We actually tried and it didn’t work, but now you can actually build it.” (Severin Hacker, 09:49)
• User Adoption:
  • The feature has seen “tremendous uptake.”

D. The Broader Vision: AI’s Role in Human Learning

• AI as a Tutor—not a Replacement:
  • Hacker tempers fears about AI replacing human jobs, emphasizing its role in delivering individualized, high-quality instruction.
  • On the future of instant learning:
    • “Maybe I’m dating myself, but there [in The Matrix] they basically just download… whatever into the brain… I think that’s a little bit far out in the future, but it’s never been more realistic for Duolingo.” (Severin Hacker, 10:45)
• AI’s Impact on Scale:
  • Use of AI enabled Duolingo to launch over 100 courses in a single year—something that would have “taken us tens or maybe even 100 years if not for AI.” (Severin Hacker, 11:12)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the existential risk and opportunity for Duolingo:
  "If you want to learn anything...the single best way to learn is with a one on one human tutorial...now for the first time with AI, we believe we can achieve our mission..."
  — Severin Hacker, CTO, Duolingo (07:19)

• On what it means to be AI-first:
  "What is the Uber? What is the product that you couldn't have built before AI?"
  — Severin Hacker, CTO, Duolingo (09:13)

• On scaling innovation:
  "We launched over 100 courses this year. And this is thanks to AI. Previously would have taken us tens or maybe even 100 years if not for AI."
  — Severin Hacker, CTO, Duolingo (11:12)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:34–05:13 — H1B visa overhaul, its rationale, impact, and lingering tech industry concerns
• 06:05–06:55 — Introduction to Duolingo’s AI-First strategy & initial backlash
• 06:55–08:23 — Duolingo’s mission, reasoning for pivoting to AI
• 08:23–09:34 — Definition of “AI-First” and transformative analogy to mobile’s impact
• 09:34–10:12 — Implementation: AI-driven features like “Video Call with Lily”
• 10:12–11:26 — Big-picture vision: AI as personalized tutor and agent of rapid scaling

Tone & Style

• The conversation mixes direct corporate insight from Duolingo’s leadership with balanced, journalistic inquiry from WSJ.
• The tone is forward-looking and pragmatic, neither utopian nor alarmist about AI’s role in education.
• The episode conveys both excitement about innovation and sensitivity to staff/user concerns.

Summary Takeaway

Duolingo’s bold “AI-first” strategy aims far beyond operational efficiency: it seeks to fundamentally reshape how language (and potentially all) learning happens at scale. By leveraging AI to mimic one-on-one tutoring and dramatically accelerate course creation, Duolingo hopes to fulfill its mission of universal access to top-tier education—while also addressing fears about what increased automation means for employees and users. The episode offers a candid look at both the possibilities and anxieties of AI transformation inside a well-known tech platform.