Duolingo is facing an existential crisis as Google Translate rolls out features to tutor users—and even handle live translation as a bonus

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Google’s new AI-powered features for Google Translate are taking a page from Duolingo—and its responsive live translation could increasingly make language barriers a thing of the past. 

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Shares of Duolingo fell 3% following Google’s announcement before rebounding Wednesday as of midday. The language-learning app, which boasts 130 million active users, has faced increased pressure from AI models like ChatGPT and Gemini, which are also capable of helping users learn a new language. Notably, only about 10% of Duolingo’s users are paying customers, CEO Luis von Ahn told the New York Times earlier this month.

After von Ahn sent a memo declaring the company’s new “AI-first” strategy, he later clarified his comments, saying Duolingo was “hiring at the same speed as we were hiring before.” 

Still, von Ahn said he wasn’t worried about large-language models (LLMs) encroaching on the language learning space.

“Just having conversations in French on something like ChatGPT gets pretty boring after a while. It doesn’t keep you there. We keep you on task with all the gamification,” he told the NYT. 

Duolingo did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment. 

Google also introduced AI-powered live translation features this week for on-the-spot conversations. Translations will be read aloud and presented on the screen with a transcript. Google’s advanced voice-and speech-recognition models are able to isolate a user’s voice so the app can be used even in noisy spaces.

In June, at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple also announced new live-translation features powered