# Luis von Ahn on Reddit (u/vonahn)

Part of Scientists on Reddit, researched with Autumn (https://www.autumn.ai) from public sources. Updated 2026-11-07. Interactive version: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/scientists-on-reddit/luis-von-ahn

Luis von Ahn: Computer scientist, creator of reCAPTCHA and Duolingo.

- Reddit account: [u/vonahn](https://www.reddit.com/user/vonahn/) (Personal account)
- How we know it's theirs: [The 2013 r/IAmA AMA, posted from this account](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1fa3nu/)
- Where they post, in the records we retrieved: r/duolingo (549), r/IAmA (268), r/AskReddit (22), r/videos (17), r/Android (17), r/technology (16)
- Known activity in the posts we found: 2012 to 2025
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_von_Ahn

## Moments

### u/vonahn in r/AskReddit, Aug 2, 2015 · Personal story

Replying to the post "Has anyone here completed a language in Duolingo? How well versed in the language were you, by the end?".

> When I had done about half the course, I went to Brazil to give a talk about Duolingo (in English), and the first question I got afterwards was what language I was learning myself. I made the mistake of saying Portuguese, and they proceded to ask me all other questions in Portuguese. This was the first time I ever spoke it with a real human, and it was in front of an audience of more than 1k people! I was terrified. But in the end it worked out pretty well. I was able to understand 100% of what they asked, and answer most things in Portuguese (though I sounded very broken).

(Excerpt.)
Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/3fgxoz/comment/ctojpbr/ · 1,683 points as of Nov 7, 2026

### u/vonahn in r/IAmA, May 29, 2013 · Personal story

Replying to a redditor:

> Thanks for doing the AMA. I am a big fan of Duolingo. How many languages can you personally speak?

> I'm perfectly fluent in English and Spanish. Learning Portuguese, and failed at learning French in high school (though, in my defense, I only took it cuz I had a crush on a girl).

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1fa3nu/comment/ca896oj/ · 419 points as of Nov 7, 2026

### u/vonahn in r/IAmA, May 29, 2013 · Behind the scenes

Replying to a redditor:

> Is Duolingo actually making enough money the way it works now?

> The other day we found a quarter under the couch. I think that's the entirety of our revenue so far.

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1fa3nu/comment/ca89oed/ · 440 points as of Nov 7, 2026

### u/vonahn in r/duolingo, Jan 3, 2017 · Behind the scenes

Replying to the post "I find it slightly annoying that Duolingo always has the first word capitalised on these matching exercises, making it super obvious what the first word of the answer is.".

> I hate that too! Unfortunately whenever we try removing it, more people complain and our metrics go down :/ Sometimes you just can't win.
>
> --Luis (CEO of Duolingo)

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/duolingo/comments/5ltqep/comment/dbyjxj3/ · 273 points as of Nov 7, 2026