From Carnegie Mellon classrooms to a global cultural phenomenon, this episode of The Morning Brief traces the journey of Luis von Ahn, math prodigy, inventor of CAPTCHA, and now the CEO and co-founder of Duolingo. Hosts Anirban Chowdhury and ET’s Deputy news editor Himani Kothari explore how Luis’s early work fighting bots evolved into a business to democratize education through gamified language learning. What began with a Spanish course and a German prototype has grown into a plus 500-million-user platform, driven by Duolingo’s bite-sized lessons, quirky owl mascot, and irreverent marketing strategy. The conversation delves into the company’s expansion into math, music and chess, its partnership with OpenAI, and the creative freedom that powers its viral success.
As AI becomes central to the future of learning, Luis weighs its potential to enhance not replace human education. Can platforms like Duolingo balance fun, function, and cultural impact in a world increasingly shaped by algorithms?

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You can follow Anirban Chowdhury on his Linkedin, Twitter profiles and read his Newspaper Articles.

You can follow Himani Kothari on her Linkedin, Twitter profiles and read his Newspaper Articles.

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