How to Make Learning as Addictive as Social Media

So, I'm from Guatemala. Just to clarify, Guatemala is not where they keep prisoners—that’s Guantanamo. (Laughter) Guatemala is located right below Mexico. For the Americans here, think of it as Mexico's Mexico. (Laughter) Just like the US wants to limit illegal immigration from Mexico, Mexico feels the same way about Guatemala. It’s a smaller, poorer country, but with much better Mexican food. (Laughter)

Guatemala is a very poor country, and while people often see education as a way to bridge social class gaps, I’ve always viewed it as something that can actually widen those gaps. In practice, those with money can afford quality education and continue to prosper, while those without money receive inadequate education and remain poor. This is especially true in poorer countries.

I was fortunate enough to receive a quality education despite not growing up rich. As an only child with a single mother, all her resources were spent on my education. This allowed me to attend college in the US and eventually earn a PhD in computer science. About ten years ago, I decided I wanted to help provide equal access to education for everyone. And that's what I want to talk about today: equal access to education for all.

At the time, I was a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University and started working on this with my PhD student, Severin. We decided to start by teaching one subject and eventually chose foreign languages. This might be surprising to people in North America, but we had several reasons. One major reason is the large audience: about two billion people worldwide are learning a foreign language, most of them learning English. Learning English can significantly increase one’s income potential in many countries. Unlike subjects like math, where you need advanced knowledge to see financial benefits, just knowing a language like English can directly improve job opportunities and income.

We realized that to reach a large audience, we needed to use smartphones. Building schools worldwide is too expensive, but most people have access to smartphones. So, we decided to create a way to learn languages on mobile phones and called it Duolingo. (Applause)

To ensure Duolingo was accessible to everyone, we adopted a freemium model. Users can learn as much as they want for free, but if they prefer not to see ads, they can subscribe to remove them. This model allows wealthier users in countries like the US and Canada to subsidize the education of users in poorer countries like Brazil, Vietnam, and Guatemala. This small form of wealth redistribution is something I really like about our model. (Applause)

However, delivering education via smartphone comes with challenges. Smartphones are filled with addictive apps like TikTok and Instagram, which makes it hard to keep users engaged with educational content. To succeed, we had to make learning as engaging as those apps. With Duolingo, we've managed to do this by making the "broccoli" taste like "dessert."

One powerful technique we use is the notion of a streak. A streak counts the number of consecutive days a user engages with the app. People are motivated to maintain their streaks, which keeps them coming back. For example, Duolingo has over three million daily active users with streaks longer than 365 days. (Applause)

Notifications are another effective tool. While notifications can be spammy, they serve a useful purpose in educational apps by reminding people to learn. Our sophisticated AI system optimizes the timing and content of notifications to maximize user return. Interestingly, we found that notifying users that we’ll stop sending reminders after seven days of inactivity actually brings many of them back.

Our green owl mascot, who appears in notifications, has become a cultural icon, inspiring numerous internet memes. These memes often humorously depict the lengths the owl will go to remind users to practice. This widespread recognition has helped Duolingo enter the cultural zeitgeist.

While I don't believe educational apps can be as engaging as TikTok or Instagram, they don’t have to be. Learning provides a sense of meaning, unlike the sometimes empty feeling after scrolling through social media. Even if educational apps are only 80-90% as engaging as entertainment apps, the internal motivation to learn makes up the difference. This approach has enabled Duolingo to surpass traditional education methods in reach and impact.

For example, more people in the US are learning languages on Duolingo than in all US high schools combined. (Applause) My hope is that we can apply this model to other subjects like math and physics, delivering high-quality education to everyone through mobile phones. I envision a future where screen time is not seen as wasted time, but as an opportunity for learning and growth.

So, please, do your language lessons today. Thank you. (Laughter) Thank you. (Applause)

Helen Walters: Luis, thank you so much. Can you say more about how this approach can be applied to other subjects?

Luis von Ahn: Sure. Subjects that require repetition, like reading or elementary math, can be gamified similar to Duolingo. This approach is more challenging for subjects that need explanations, but for repetitive learning, gamification can be very effective. (Applause)