Duolingo CEO says AI tutors will replace schools in future, schools will be only for childcare
Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn is making headlines after suggesting that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will one day replace classroom teachers entirely.
According to von Ahn, schools of the future won’t be about education—they’ll mostly serve as childcare centers.
He shared his take in a recent episode of No Priors, a podcast hosted by investor Sarah Guo. “Education is going to change,” he said. “It’s just a lot more scalable to teach with AI than with teachers.”
So what would this future actually look like?
Von Ahn made it clear that he doesn’t think schools won’t disappear entirely, but their main function may shift.
“That doesn’t mean the teachers are going to go away,” he said. “You still need people to take care of the students. I also don’t think schools are going to go away because you still need childcare.”
He pointed to the challenges that come with having one teacher for a room of 30 or more kids. Meanwhile, AI can tailor lessons on an individual level.
“The computer can know very precisely what you’re good at and bad at—something a teacher just can’t track for 30 students at once,” he said.
In his view, students in the future might “Duolingo” their way through customized lessons, with teachers stepping in as facilitators instead of traditional instructors.
Still, he admitted that this shift might not happen overnight.
“Education is slow to change,” he said, citing government red tape, outdated systems, and social norms as obstacles.
Online, users aren’t exactly sold on the idea
On Reddit, a post about von Ahn’s comments quickly drew backlash, especially from longtime Duolingo fans.
“The more this guy talks, the less I like Duolingo,” one commenter wrote.
Another person pointed out the mismatch between Duolingo’s fun, chaotic brand and the CEO’s opinions.
“Imagine having a social media team that absolutely crushes it… and then having a CEO who just throws all that in the trash because he can’t keep his [expletive] mouth shut about his trash opinions,” they wrote.
Others were quick to remind readers that this isn’t a new pitch from the tech world.
“This has been said by nearly every tech guy in every decade,” one user wrote. “They try to roll out some school based on their weird beliefs… it works for a year, then starts to fall apart. The students end up worse for the experience and the regular schools barely notice.”
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