Duolingo Bots — AI-powered characters to teach language conversation

Hi, ProductHunt! This is Jack from Duolingo. Today, we're incredibly excited to announce a new feature called Bots - the most advanced way to learn a language. From grabbing a slice of pizza to hailing a taxi, Bots prepare you for real-life conversations — minus the awkwardness and anxiety. Learning to speak a new language is not only daunting: it’s also inaccessible to most language learners. In most classrooms, the majority of the time is spent in silence listening to teachers, so speaking practice is reserved to those who can afford to travel abroad or hire personal tutors. Furthering Duolingo’s mission of making language education accessible to all, Bots are here to democratize conversation. We like to think of the Bots as your virtual language tutors - they'll never judge you, they're available on demand and their level of conversation is tailored to your language proficiency. We're so excited to finally share this with the world and as always, the Duolingo team is here to answer any questions you may have.

This is very smart and something I will definitely download, but why does everyone here seem to post their launch that is for iOS only? The world has Android phones as well. In fact there are more Android users than all other markets combined. In my honest opinion it is not a good thing for a company to launch solely on iOS instead of Android. For example I'll probably forget all about it when (and if) it comes out for Android and you'll have lost a user (although, given it's built by Duolingo themselves I'll probably see it). Cudos on the idea though and I hope it does well. https://www.statista.com/statist...

This is the best use of bots I've seen so far. I don't really want to order a pizza through Facebook messenger, but this is a fun way to study Spanish.

No Android?! (ಠ_ಠ)

This is super cool , android version awaited :D

None of my friends were texting me back so i figured I'd try making bot friends, remembered this update, and now being lonely enough to talk to a machine is super productive. Thanks!

Big fan of Duolingo! Looking forward to trying this new feature

Such a great use case for bots, and a natural way to learn. Much like VR, I predict bots will become really useful for generating real-life environment best suited for training and educational purpose.

Agree. Best actual use of Bots so far. Congrats Duolingo team.

I agree this is one of the best uses of bots I've seen so far. Many new language learners are afraid to actually speak what they've learned and this removes a lot of that barrier. Is there an inherent difficulty in programming bots to converse in let's say Korean or Chinese compared to Spanish or French? I'm picking up Korean myself and would love to try this out (since I've forgotten most of my high school Spanish :P) @jckmgn @luisvonahn

Again. Android please? My wife is crazy for duolingo

Looking good. Here's my upvote!

Finally a really awesome use of chat bots!

This. Is. So. Great.

iOS only. Again. Meh.

The best use of bots I've seen. I noticed Duolingo doesn't currently offer Chinese language, any plans to add?

Since I don't see it here, I'll quote the App Store listing: "For now, Bots are available for the Spanish, French, and German courses."

Can NOT wait for the FB Messenger version! @duolingo @jckmgn @steve_ridout @luisvonahn @tylrmurphy @jckmgn

Awesome 👍

One of the best application for bots I've seen. Great news for the education industry