When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Duolingo drops nearly 150 new language courses, says AI helped build them David Uzondu Neowin · Apr 30, 2025 16:38 EDT Several days ago, Duolingo stirred up some talk across the internet by declaring it was going "AI-first" and signaling a move away from using human contractors for tasks AI could handle. This sparked quite a bit of discussion and concern, with many worrying about job losses and the potential impact on the quality of language content Duolingo provides. The company has now announced a massive launch: 148 brand new language courses, more than doubling its current lineup and marking the largest content expansion in its history. This rollout arrives as the company continues to face criticism over its AI strategy. While some users and commentators have expressed anxieties that an "AI-first" approach might dilute the human element of language learning or lead to less nuanced translations compared to those done by people, especially the contractors who were previously involved in creating course content, Duolingo says this sudden, massive expansion is possible precisely because of its investments in AI and automation. Luis von Ahn, Duolingo's CEO and co-founder, highlighted the speed this enables in the announcement. He stated: Developing our first 100 courses took about 12 years, and now, in about a year, we’re able to create and launch nearly 150 new courses. This is a great example of how generative AI can directly benefit our learners. This launch reflects the incredible impact of our AI and automation investments, which have allowed us to scale at unprecedented speed and quality. The company explained that historically, building just one new course from scratch was a lengthy process, sometimes taking small teams years. Now, using generative AI to create and validate content, along with internal tools and a new "shared content" approach (where a base course is built and quickly adapted for different languages), it can apparently turn out courses much faster. Jessie Becker, a Senior Director of Learning Design at Duolingo, added: 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 is most impactful, ensuring every course meets Duolingo’s rigorous quality standards. So, what does this mean for people trying to learn a language on Duolingo? It makes Duolingo's top seven languages besides English – Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Mandarin – available to users speaking any of the 28 interface languages the app supports. This dramatically expands learning options and could potentially open up these popular languages to over a billion more potential learners worldwide. For example, the announcement specifically mentioned that speakers of many languages in Latin America, Europe, and Asia who previously might have only had the option to learn English can now access these other top languages, including high-demand ones like Japanese, Korean, and Mandarin. These new courses primarily cover beginner levels, known as CEFR A1 to A2. They include familiar Duolingo features like Stories for reading practice and DuoRadio for listening. Duolingo did note that more advanced content for these courses is planned for future rollout. This new update follows other AI-driven tools Duolingo has introduced earlier, like the video call feature added to Android back in January. It’s part of the Duolingo Max subscription and lets users practice real-time conversations with an AI character. Tags Report a problem with article Follow @NeowinFeed