In April 2025, Duolingo's CEO Luis von Ahn publicly declared the company "AI-first," meaning AI capability would be considered when hiring people, evaluating employee performance, and deciding whether to grow teams. The announcement triggered significant public backlash, including the loss of more than 400,000 social media followers, and the CEO later walked back some of the framing.

The memo, posted to LinkedIn on April 28, 2025, outlined five guiding principles for Duolingo's AI-first transition: (1) gradually ending contractor arrangements for work AI can handle; (2) factoring AI use into hiring decisions; (3) including AI adoption in performance reviews; (4) requiring that automation options be exhausted before approving new headcount; and (5) rebuilding some internal systems from the ground up. Duolingo lost over 400,000 TikTok followers and wiped some social media accounts in the days following. In August 2025, CEO von Ahn stated the original memo lacked context, clarified that no full-time employees had been or would be laid off, and noted the company introduced "f-r-A-I-days" — weekly Friday sessions for employees to experiment with AI tools.