Duolingo targets 100 million daily active users by 2028 as AI reshapes language learning

Watch Duolingo Looks to Double Daily Active Users to 100M by 2028

Duolingo was under pressure post-earnings after it said its drive to gain subscribers would mean slower earnings growth and narrower profit margins in the short term. The language-learning app company said it would step up investment in artificial intelligence and sacrifice some degree of monetization in order to accelerate user growth and engagement, with the goal of doubling the current number of daily active users to 100 million in 2028. Duolingo Co-Founder, Chairman, President & CEO Luis von Ahn joins Bloomberg Businessweek Daily to discuss. von Ahn also weighs in on how the app is using AI to bolster its language-learning programs. He speaks with Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec.

Duolingo Bets on User Growth to Outpace AI Disruption | PYMNTS.com

By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. Louis von Ahn, co-founder and CEO of Duolingo, said in a Thursday earnings release that the mobile learning platform surpassed 50 million daily active users and generated over $1 billion in bookings for the first time in 2025. "At the same time, advances in AI are fundamentally reshaping how people learn, and we believe this is a pivotal moment for our company," von Ahn said. "In 2026, we are deliberately prioritizing user growth and teaching better. We'll focus on improving the free learner experience to grow word of mouth and feed our next user growth engines like chess, math and music, even though that moderates near-term financial growth." Duolingo believes that with this strategy, it can reach 100 million daily active users in the medium-term and build a business that is larger and more durable, von Ahn said. The company's user growth slowed in 2025, von Ahn wrote in a shareholder letter released Thursday. While its year-over-year growth in daily active users (DAUs) was at least 40% in every quarter from the second quarter of 2022 to the second quarter of 2025, the metric slowed to 30% in the fourth quarter of 2025. Duolingo expects it to drop to about 20% in 2026, von Ahn wrote. "Some of this deceleration is natural as we scale, and some of it, we believe, is a function of our increased focus on monetization in recent years," von Ahn wrote. "Given the opportunity to teach billions of people and the unique time we live in, we are now making a more deliberate shift in how we operate the business to prioritize teaching better and user growth." Duolingo's strategy includes teaching languages better by making its Video Call feature accessible to more users, providing more AI-powered speaking practice to both free and paid learners, and offering more advanced content around its nine most-learned languages, according to the letter. The company also plans to improve its free user value proposition by reducing the friction it previously applied to encourage people to subscribe, boost word of mouth as a growth driver by repurposing part of its monetization team to work on user growth rather than subscription promotion, and dedicating more resources to its "next user growth engines" such as chess, math and music, per the letter. PYMNTS reported in May 2024 that artificial intelligence is changing how companies train and upskill their employees by offering personalized learning experiences that can reduce costs and improve efficiency.