Severin Hacker

Co-Founder, Chief Technology Officer & Director, Duolingo

Search every verified Severin Hacker interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Severin Hacker, co-founder and CTO of Duolingo, has been a prominent voice on the role of artificial intelligence in education and company building. In several interviews, he stated that Duolingo uses AI in three primary ways: generating course content, building new features like the "video call with Lily" conversational tool, and improving engineering productivity. Hacker noted that AI allowed Duolingo to release 148 new courses in one year, a process he said took 12 years for the previous 100 courses, representing a roughly tenfold acceleration. He also discussed the company's "AI-first" strategy, which he said led to backlash from customers concerned about layoffs, though he stated that no full-time Duolingo employees were laid off as a result. Hacker expressed a belief that artificial general intelligence (AGI) will eventually eliminate the need for most jobs, but estimated this is likely 10 to 20 years away, not within the next five years. Hacker has also offered advice to European founders, recommending they move to the United States, arguing that "the same idea, the same talent will have 10 times more success in the US." He stated that Duolingo would not have been able to raise money in Europe, as the company had zero revenue for its first five years. He described his management philosophy as "think big, act small," emphasizing lean hiring and efficient marketing. Hacker also discussed the importance of habit and motivation in language learning, saying that Duolingo's focus on retention and experimentation has made it the highest-retaining education product in its category. He noted that the company actively hires junior engineers, describing the current generation as "the first AI-first generation."