Authors: Asma Alkoubaisi & Gen Coulter
Founded in 2009, Duolingo is a mobile-based application that offers a variety of courses including 42 languages, math, music, and chess courses. In a 2025 interview with Duolingo’s founder and CEO, Luis von Ahn claimed that AI is more adept to teach than human teachers and will inevitably take over for human teachers within classrooms since AI offers a more personalized learning experience for learners. Ahn further argues that AI’s teaching capability is more scalable and learning is optimized (Radio Canada International, 2025).
In addition to looking at Duolingo’s view of AI as a replacement for teachers, we can look at Khan Academy’s introduction of Khanmigo (2023) as an AI powered tutor and source for individual student support.
The media debate changes the narrative based on the argument of each of Clark and Kozma’s ideologies. Clark’s (1994) argument focuses on media as a vehicle for delivering instructions. He focuses on how instructional methodology influences and impacts learning and not the medium in which it is being taught through. Clark would question whether the potential learning benefits asserted by Duolingo and Khan Academy are specifically a result of the AI media or the instructional methods implemented through these applications.
On the other hand, Kozma’s (1994) work focuses on media’s interaction with instructional design and how learners can use it to influence the learning process. When we consider the specific capabilities of various generative AI, this difference becomes important. With Duolingo’s AI presented as a potential replacement for teachers, there are different capabilities than there would be with Khanmigo being presented as an AI study buddy or tutor. With Kozma’s focus on interactions of media, instructional design, and learners, there is recognition of technology as not simply being a neutral vehicle, but instead a component to how learning is experienced.
Together, Clark and Kozma provide useful insights and considerations to the claims of both Duolingo and Khan Academy with generative AI as replacements for teachers and tutors, respectively. We are reminded by Clark to question the asserted claims of technology being the driving factor behind potential learning, but instead to look deeper at the underlying instructional design and assumptions that have created that technology. Kozma also invites us to see media as not a neutral channel, but to consider how its capabilities interact with instructional design and the learner.
References:
Clark, R. E. (1994). Media will never influence learning. Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(2), 21–29. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02299088
Khan Academy. (2023, March 14). Introducing Khanmigo. https://support.khanacademy.org/hc/en-us/community/posts/13992414612877-Introducing-Khanmigo
Kozma, R. B. (1994). Will media influence learning? Reframing the debate. Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(2), 7–19. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02299087
Radio Canada International. (2025, May 22). Duolingo’s CEO says AI will soon replace teachers. But… should it? https://ici.radio-canada.ca/rci/en/news/2166673/duolingos-ceo-says-ai-will-soon-replace-teachers-but-should-it
Transparency Statement: Generative AI, ChatGPT, was used to create the reference list and in-text citations, which were then verified for accuracy. It was also used as a reviewer to assess grammar, writing flow, clarity, and overall readability. The final content was reviewed and edited by the authors, who remains responsible for the accuracy, interpretation, and final presentation of the work.