Trending Now - Duolingo Workers Resist AI Monitoring Amid Leadership Shift

WHO:

Fast Company - Luis von Ahn stated, “For a while, AI usage was a metric of company performance reviews,” indicating a shift in evaluation strategy.

Fast Company - Luis von Ahn mentioned, “Despite what the internet may think, we’ve never done a layoff here,” reaffirming the company's employment stability.

AP - OpenAI's chief financial officer Sarah Friar stated that business customers accounted for about 40% of OpenAI’s revenue, up from 20% when she was hired in 2024.

Fast Company - Duolingo founder and CEO Luis von Ahn

TechRadar - Duolingo employees

WHAT:

Fast Company - Duolingo has backtracked on using AI usage as a performance metric after employee pushback, emphasizing the importance of job performance over AI metrics.

Fast Company - Duolingo expects to announce its first quarter results on May 4th, 2026, with projected revenue growth of 25% to $288.5 million.

AP - OpenAI is expected to introduce a new artificial intelligence model, codenamed Spud, which will offer “stronger reasoning, better understanding of intent and dependencies, better follow-through and more reliable output in production.”

AP - Anthropic's annualized revenues reportedly hit $30 billion, a higher figure than OpenAI's, although the companies measure revenue differently.

Fast Company - Duolingo introduced 148 new language courses with the use of AI tools, which was a significant development in their educational offerings.

Fast Company - Duolingo stock (Nasdaq: DUOL) experienced a decline earlier in 2026 after reaching a high point in 2025, indicating fluctuations in market performance.

Fast Company - Duolingo expects 25% revenue growth in Q1 2026 to $288.5 million, which is below Wall Street estimates.

Fast Company - Duolingo has backtracked on using AI usage as a performance metric after employee pushback, stating that the focus should be on completing job responsibilities effectively.

Fast Company - Luis von Ahn stated in a recent episode of the “Silicon Valley Girl” podcast, “At the end, we backtracked, and we said, ‘No, look. The most important thing in your performance is you are doing whatever your job is as well as possible.’”

Fast Company - Duolingo expects to announce its first quarter results on May 4th, 2026.

Fast Company - Luis von Ahn stated, “A lot of times AI can help you with that, but if it can’t, I’m not going to force you to do that. [...] It felt like rather than being held accountable for the actual outcome, we were trying to push something that in some cases did not fit.”

Fast Company - Von Ahn mentioned that he does not view AI as a replacement for Duolingo employees, stating, “Despite what the internet may think, we’ve never done a layoff here.”

Fast Company - Luis von Ahn stated, “For a while, AI usage was a metric of company performance reviews,” indicating that this was a recent change before the backtrack.

Fast Company - Von Ahn mentioned that AI tools are not all that great at generating a large number of narratives, often producing nonsensical outputs.

Fast Company - Von Ahn said, “The happy path is really fast. But the unhappy path makes it so that it takes so long that you end up spending more effort on that than the time you saved on the other thing.”

Fast Company - Luis von Ahn stated, “At the end, we backtracked, and we said, ‘No, look. The most important thing in your performance is you are doing whatever your job is as well as possible.’”

Fast Company - Von Ahn mentioned that “Despite what the internet may think, we’ve never done a layoff here.”

Fast Company - Von Ahn noted that AI tools are not all that great at generating a large number of narratives, often producing nonsensical outputs.

Fast Company - Von Ahn stated, “it’s not yet the case” that AI can code better than humans, highlighting that mistakes in AI coding take longer to identify and debug.

Fast Company - Duolingo stock (Nasdaq: DUOL) experienced a decline earlier in 2026 after reaching a high point in 2025.

Fast Company - Duolingo introduced a new strategy for performance reviews that included evaluations of how effectively workers use AI.

Fast Company - Duolingo backtracked on using AI use as a performance metric after employee pushback.

Fast Company - Duolingo introduced 148 new language courses with the use of AI tools.

Fast Company - Duolingo crossed the $1 billion revenue mark in 2025.

Fast Company - Duolingo expects 25% revenue growth in Q1 2026 to $288.5 million, which is below Wall Street estimates.

WHERE:

Fast Company - Duolingo's corporate environment

WHEN:

AP - OpenAI plans to have business customers account for half of its sales by the end of 2026.

Fast Company - Duolingo expects to announce its first quarter results on May 4th, 2026.

Fast Company - Luis von Ahn announced that Duolingo would become an “AI-first” company in April 2025.

Fast Company - Duolingo's performance review strategy was introduced in 2026.

Fast Company - Duolingo's revenue growth announcement is set for May 4th, 2026.

Fast Company - Last April (April 2025), von Ahn announced that Duolingo would become an “AI-first” company.

WHY:

Fast Company - Employees questioned the decision to evaluate AI usage, leading to the backtrack on the performance metric, as they felt it distracted from actual job responsibilities.

AP - OpenAI is shifting its focus to business-oriented products to improve performance and sales amid competition with Anthropic.

Fast Company - Employees questioned the decision to evaluate AI usage, asking if they were using AI for its own sake, which led to the backtrack on the performance metric.

Fast Company - Employees questioned the decision to evaluate AI usage, asking if they were using AI for its own sake.

Fast Company - Von Ahn stated that the focus should be on completing job responsibilities effectively rather than on AI usage.

HOW:

Fast Company - Duolingo's strategy shift involved a focus on completing job responsibilities effectively rather than measuring AI usage.

AP - OpenAI has abandoned some consumer initiatives, such as the AI video generator app Sora, to concentrate on business applications.

Fast Company - Duolingo initially planned to measure AI usage for performance reviews but changed course after employee feedback.

Fast Company - Von Ahn mentioned that AI can help with productivity but acknowledged that it does not always enhance performance, particularly in programming tasks.

(UPDATED April 16, 2026 21:11 UTC)

Duolingo has decided to abandon its previous strategy of using AI usage as a performance metric following employee concerns that it detracted from actual job responsibilities. Luis von Ahn confirmed that the company has not conducted any layoffs, emphasizing its commitment to employment stability. Looking ahead, Duolingo plans to announce its first quarter results May 4th, with projected revenue growth of 25% to $288.5 million.

(UPDATED April 16, 2026 19:20 UTC)

OpenAI's chief financial officer, Sarah Friar, announced that business customers now make up about 40% of the company's revenue, a significant increase from 20% when she joined in 2024, and they aim to reach 50% by the end of 2026. The company is set to unveil a new AI model, codenamed Spud, which promises enhanced reasoning and reliability, as it shifts its focus towards business-oriented products to compete with Anthropic, whose annualized revenues have reportedly reached $30 billion. To streamline their efforts, OpenAI has discontinued some consumer initiatives, including the AI video generator app Sora, to better concentrate on business applications.

(UPDATED April 16, 2026 17:21 UTC)

Duolingo has made headlines by introducing 148 new language courses powered by AI tools, marking a significant expansion in their educational offerings. However, the company’s stock has faced fluctuations, declining earlier in 2026 after a peak in 2025, and they are now projecting a revenue growth of 25% in Q1 2026 to $288.5 million, which falls short of Wall Street expectations. Employees have raised concerns about the use of AI, prompting a reevaluation of performance metrics, and Duolingo plans to announce its first quarter results May 4th.

(UPDATED April 16, 2026 15:28 UTC)

Duolingo has decided to abandon its plan to use AI usage as a performance metric following pushback from employees who questioned the rationale behind it. In a recent episode of the “Silicon Valley Girl” podcast, CEO Luis von Ahn emphasized that the primary focus should be on effectively completing job responsibilities. The company is also set to announce its first quarter results May 4th.

(UPDATED April 16, 2026 13:22 UTC)

Luis von Ahn, the CEO of Duolingo, emphasized that while AI can be helpful, it should not be forced into situations where it doesn't fit, reflecting on the company's recent shift to an "AI-first" approach announced in April 20th25. He also reassured employees that AI is not intended to replace them, stating that Duolingo has never conducted layoffs despite internet speculation. This discussion arose after employees raised concerns about the evaluation of AI usage, questioning whether it was being implemented for its own sake rather than for meaningful outcomes.

(UPDATED April 16, 2026 04:05 UTC)

Duolingo has reversed its decision to evaluate employee performance based on AI usage following feedback from staff who questioned the rationale behind the metric. Luis von Ahn, the company's CEO, noted that while AI tools can be efficient, they often produce nonsensical outputs and can lead to more time spent on corrections than on actual productivity. He emphasized that the initial benefits of AI can be overshadowed by the challenges it presents, prompting the company to reconsider its approach.

(UPDATED April 16, 2026 01:22 UTC)

Luis von Ahn, the CEO of Duolingo, emphasized that the key to performance is doing your job as well as possible, while also clarifying that the company has never conducted layoffs despite internet speculation. He pointed out that AI tools often struggle to generate coherent narratives and are not yet capable of coding better than humans, as mistakes in AI coding can be more challenging to identify and fix. Additionally, Duolingo's stock has seen a decline in 2026 after reaching a peak in 2025.

(UPDATED April 15, 2026 23:15 UTC)

Duolingo has introduced a new strategy for performance reviews that initially included evaluations of how effectively employees use AI, but after pushback from staff, the company decided to backtrack on this approach. The language-learning platform, which crossed the $1 billion revenue mark in 2025, expects a 25% revenue growth in the first quarter of 2026, amounting to $288.5 million, although this figure falls short of Wall Street estimates. CEO Luis von Ahn emphasized that the focus should remain on completing job responsibilities effectively rather than on AI usage alone, acknowledging that while AI can enhance productivity, it doesn't always improve performance, especially in programming tasks.