Duolingo -- the next chapter in human computation | Luis von Ahn | TEDxCMU 2011

Luis von Ahn, the man who brought the world CAPTCHA and reCAPTCHA unveiled his newest and most innovative project to date: Duolingo. How can you translate the entire internet and do it for free? Duolingo will be a revolutionary product in which millions of internet users from around the world will work together to translate the internet and learn a new language at the same time. All for free.

Luis von Ahn is the A. Nico Habermann Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. He builds systems that combine humans and computers to solve large-scale problems that neither can solve alone.

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[alexandarlozanov]

This guy is a genius! The best language learning app on the market, for free, and still making profit in such an elegant way! Awesome!

[denizespunkt]

He's brilliant. Recaptchas and Duolingo are two outstanding ideas!

[DreamingWithEyesWide]

I got goosebumps watching this. It's 2019- 8 years after this talk- and I'm beyond addicted to Duolingo, learning one of the most remote languages in the world (Danish), and I'm one of many millions of people learning languages on Duolingo. This talk pre-empted the insane success Duolingo would have, alongside his other superb products. What an amazing man. There should be a book/film about his life.

[iam.karensoto]

People like him are the reason why I feel more proud every day of being Guatemalan. People just see bad thing about my country but the truth is that Guatemala is full of beautiful things and people. Keep the good work Luis!

[superesteban]

excellent, I am learning english with Duolingo and now I can understand a lot of videos, like this one

[deboohno]

Avid user of Duolingo and I am more motivated to know that my learning can contribute to such a great cause!

[clipsfromfilms]

I always wondered how the makers of duolingo can afford to make thier language learining programs free, and now I know. Awesome!

[juliandelgadim]

Duolingo is awesome, everybody should use it.

[CrzyJerry]

THIS WEBSITE HAS CHANGED MY LIFE! I am too poor to afford classes or anything to learn.. But now im being recognized by job opportunities because I know another language.. THANK YOU DUOLINGO <3

[MosheZB]

I practice my english on Duolingo and now I am watching the video of one its co founders.

[sm_artx]

I am learning Spanish on Duolingo right now, and it is the coolest app ever. Thank you for pushing humanity to learn about their own history.

[GLTDubstep]

Wow. I started on duolingo a week ago and it's ten times better than any paid language teacher I've had in the past... Language has always been my worst subject but I've picked Spanish up with ease.

[jonyaleon]

I just happened to meet Luis in one of the podcasts I was listening to and to be honest, I hadn't heard anyone like this guy who in the Computer Science industry, looks at this kind of problems from such a perspective. Today, in 2020, Duolingo has become one of the most relevant app in the whole universe of the internet. Kudos Luis!

[pooydragon]

I didn't know Duolingo was made with this purpose! Its amazing. I have been using it for almost a year and it hasn't disappointed me at all. Great job guys!

[ashmckinlay]

if I ever get an owl, I'm calling it duo! God bless you, duo!

[WanBarmawi]

OMG i just realized how this app works! excellent! thanks for making this free... this is so great!

[xXDoubleBounceXx]

No wonder Duolingo's logo was an owl. Severin Hacker, the presenter's graduate student whom he spoke of, was wearing (guess what) an OWL mask!

[Randomsae]

mind officially is blown. This is just incredible. I love this approach. I really want to start using Duolingo soon now, but I have a long way to go in the language I am currently learning, Icelandic, which is not offered on Duolingo....

[Gallardo]

I do not say that very often BUT this is such an intelligent guy.
Thank YOU so much for your effort, i enjoy duolingo so much and its even addictive.

[wheatfieldconvention]

I came very close to paying for one of the commercially available conventional language courses - It could have cost me close to £500.00. Then I chanced upon Duolingo. My motivation to learn a new language has been now been fuelled by the fact that I make a positive contribution to the collective learning for the whole planet every time I undertake a brief daily language lesson. Awesome!