The metric that tripped up Duolingo's 'AI-first' strategy

In April 2026, Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn acknowledged that the company had withdrawn one of the most delicate elements of its artificial intelligence strategy: the use of AI stopped counting in its employees' performance evaluations. What is striking is that, a year earlier, a full-blown public crisis had not managed to change its strategy even one millimeter. The first debate was opened in the spring of 2025, when Duolingo declared itself 'AI-first'.