We believe that AI and education make a great duo, and we’ve leveraged AI to help us deliver highly-personalized language lessons, affordable and accessible English proficiency testing, and more. Our mission to make high-quality education available to everyone in the world is made possible by advanced AI technology. That's why we’re excited to take advantage of GPT-4, the newest technology from OpenAI, to make learning with Duolingo even more powerful. Introducing… Duolingo Max!
Duolingo Max is a new subscription tier above Super Duolingo that gives learners access to two brand-new features and exercises: Explain My Answer and Roleplay. Both are powered by the newest, most powerful generative AI technology. We’ve been working closely with OpenAI for months to refine the technology and get it ready for learners!
Here’s everything you need to know about this exciting new experience!
How is Duolingo Max different than Super Duolingo?
Duolingo Max gives learners all the benefits of Super (unlimited hearts, no ads, and personalized review through the Practice Hub), as well as two new AI-powered features. These new features are: Explain My Answer and Roleplay.
Naturally, you might ask…
What is Explain My Answer?
Sometimes you make a mistake, but you’re not exactly sure what the *right* answer would be. Or maybe, you keep making the same mistake again and again and you can’t figure out why. Explain My Answer offers learners the chance to learn more about their response in a lesson (whether their answer was correct or incorrect!) By tapping a button after certain exercise types, learners can enter a chat with Duo to get a simple explanation on why their answer was right or wrong, and ask for examples or further clarification.
What is Roleplay?
Roleplay allows learners to practice real-world conversation skills with world characters in the app. These challenges, which earn XP, will live alongside the path as one of the “Side Quests” learners can access by tapping on the character. What will you talk about? We’ll guide you through different scenarios! Learners might discuss future vacation plans with Lin, order coffee at a café in Paris, go furniture shopping with Eddy, or ask a friend to go for a hike.
Although learners aren’t actually talking to a live human, the AI behind this feature is responsive and interactive, meaning no two conversations will be exactly alike! After the interaction, learners get AI-powered feedback from Duo on the accuracy and complexity of their responses, as well as tips for future conversations.
Who has access to these new features?
The only courses that can utilize these new features are Spanish and French for English speakers on iOS. We expect to roll these out to more courses and platforms very soon!
At launch, Duolingo Max will be available in the U.S., Great Britain, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. We’re working to expand to more countries in the coming months.
Are humans evaluating the content at all?
Yes! At Duolingo, our curriculum experts and designers are well-versed at working with AI-generated content to create fun and effective lessons. These new features are no different!
Humans write the scenarios that learners see in Roleplay—they make sure the initial prompt (Talk about a vacation! Ask for directions!) is aligned with where the learner is in their course. Our experts also write the initial message in the chat and tell the model where to take the conversation.
We also constantly review AI-generated explanations in Roleplay and Explain My Answer to ensure that the answers are factually correct and have the right tone (fun, encouraging, and if you’re Duo, occasionally snarky 😅).
What if the AI makes a mistake?
We know that technology is never perfect (hey, neither are humans!). Part of the reason we’re so excited to use GPT-4 for these features is that it’s the most accurate (and fastest) version of the technology available. We’ve spent months collaborating closely with OpenAI to test and train this technology, and will continue doing so until the mistakes are nearly nonexistent.
If you notice a mistake or error in an AI-generated response, you can report it by holding down the inaccurate message—a menu will pop up and allow you to select your reason for reporting. Our team will watch for these reports and use them to train the model to be more accurate. (For more about how we work with learners to ensure our lessons are accurate, click here!)
Every Explain My Answer session also has the option to offer a 👍 or 👎 after you receive the explanation.
A new way to Max-imize your learning
We’ve spent months testing this technology with our teams and small groups of learners, and we’re impressed by the results. Our mission has always been to bring the highest-quality education to everyone on the planet, and AI helps us do that a lot faster than if we worked alone!
We’re so excited to continue bringing new features and exercises to all of our learners around the world—Duolingo Max is only the beginning! We're rolling this out slowly to learners on iOS devices. If you're eligible to try out Duolingo Max, you can find it in the Shop tab (click the gem icon at the top of your screen). Android and Web learners should keep an eye out for Duolingo Max in the coming months!
