Duolingo's CEO Admits the Company Backtracked on Its AI-First Mandate

On the May 13, 2026 episode of the podcast Rapid Response, hosted by Bob Safian, Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn admitted the company had backtracked on its widely publicized 2025 mandate to evaluate every employee's performance partly based on their AI tool usage.

The reversal followed significant internal pushback from staff, the same policy that generated public backlash when it was first announced in 2025.

The detail worth sitting with is what von Ahn said about headcount. Despite the public criticism the AI-first mandate drew in 2025, Duolingo's headcount kept growing throughout that period rather than shrinking. The policy wasn't functioning as cover for layoffs, and the company backtracked on it anyway, which points to the mandate itself, not some hidden reduction plan, being what didn't work.

Mandating AI tool usage as a formal performance metric turned out to be a harder sell internally than mandating AI adoption in general. Duolingo's walk-back is a specific data point for any company considering a similar policy: measuring AI usage as part of a performance review is a different, more contentious ask than simply encouraging or requiring the tools be available.