Sitting in Duo’s Taqueria, a dimly-lit upscale Mexican restaurant in Pittsburgh, Luis von Ahn contemplates the end of work as we know it. In between bites of al pastor tacos and sips of a margarita, Von Ahn, founder and CEO of the language learning app Duolingo, talks about how AI will make some jobs disappear, and workers will need to be retrained.

He speaks from experience: Late last year, Duolingo decided not to renew the contracts of about 10% of its contracted workforce who did translations and lesson writing, instead opting to use AI for those tasks in some cases. “Our stance as a company is that if we can automate something, we will,” von Ahn said now of the dismissals. “A full time employee’s job is very hard to automate. But we had some hourly contractors who were doing pretty rote stuff.”

While he firmly believes it was the right call for his company, he’s cognizant of the broader problems AI will bring. “It’s a tough situation that'll affect the poor, the less educated,” he said. “And not just in the U.S., but in poor countries.”

From a table in the back of the restaurant, which was originally designed by Duolingo as a place where diners could practice their Spanish, he notes it will require smart regulation from world governments to make sure AI is equitable. But he doesn’t have much faith in the U.S., which will have to “get their head out of their ass” to do it. “It's just very hard right now to imagine that the U.S. is going to legislate this well, given that they can't agree on anything.”

“It may put one-on-one human tutors out of business. I understand that. But I think net-net it is better if everybody has access to one.”

But longer term, von Ahn is optimistic that AI could unlock new possibilities for learning, bringing high-quality education to the masses. He thinks languages can help lift people out of poverty, noting that, for non-native speakers, learning English instantly broadens a person’s earning potential and opens up a whole new world of jobs. He sees Duolingo on the forefront of the transition to AI-powered learning, with the ultimate moonshot of creating an automated AI tutor that can teach anyone a foreign language.

“That would be generally good for the world,” he said. “It may put one-on-one human tutors out of business. I understand that. But I think net-net it is better if everybody has access to one.”

Von Ahn isn’t afraid to voice strong opinions. He delights in memes that Duolingo’s owl mascot (named Duo) might break into the houses of users who missed their language lessons, a corporate brand he calls “wholesome unhinged.” He was a staunch critic of Alejandro Giammattei, former president of his home country Guatemala, who he decried as corrupt (he’s also the biggest donor for Giammattei’s replacement Bernardo Arévalo, who took office in January). And he has said that he thinks AI will make computers better teachers than........

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