Luis von Ahn
Born 1978 · Age 47
Guatemalan-American entrepreneur, computer scientist, pioneer of crowdsourcing; founder of reCAPTCHA (sold to Google) and co-founder & CEO of Duolingo. Former Carnegie Mellon University professor.
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Life & Career Timeline
Born in Guatemala City
Luis von Ahn was born in Guatemala City, Guatemala. He is of German descent; his mother was a physician.
Received a Commodore 64 computer
At about age eight his mother bought him a Commodore 64, sparking his fascination with technology and computing.
Started undergraduate studies at Duke University
Enrolled at Duke University to study mathematics.
Traveled to El Salvador to take TOEFL
To apply to U.S. colleges he had to fly to El Salvador to take the TOEFL, paying over US$1,200 — an experience that motivated future work on accessible testing/education.
Started graduate studies at Carnegie Mellon University
Began graduate research in computer science at Carnegie Mellon University (later earned MS and PhD).
Graduated Duke University, BS in Mathematics, summa cum laude
Received a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Duke University (summa cum laude).
Worked on early CAPTCHA (Yahoo! request)
As a CMU grad student and collaborator he worked on CAPTCHAs in response to a 2000 request (Yahoo! adopted CAPTCHA in 2001).
Published EUROCRYPT paper on CAPTCHA
Co-authored 'CAPTCHA: Using Hard AI Problems for Security' (EUROCRYPT 2003), formalizing CAPTCHAs for security.
Earned MS in Computer Science (CMU)
Completed master's-level work at Carnegie Mellon (documented as earning an MS in 2003 in some sources).
Coined and popularized 'Games With A Purpose' (GWAP)
Work on GWAPs (including ESP Game) formalized the idea of games producing useful computation as a side effect.
Published ESP Game / image-labeling paper (CHI 2004)
Published work on 'games with a purpose' including the ESP Game which produced labels for images as a side effect of gameplay.
Published Communications of the ACM article on CAPTCHA (2004)
Published influential 2004 Communications of the ACM piece 'Telling humans and computers apart automatically'.
Completed PhD: 'Human Computation' thesis
Awarded PhD in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon; thesis coined the term 'human computation' and introduced Games With A Purpose (GWAPs).
Best Doctoral Dissertation Award (CMU School of CS)
PhD thesis recognized as the Best Doctoral Dissertation by CMU's School of Computer Science.
Joined Carnegie Mellon faculty
Became a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science.
Awarded MacArthur Fellowship
Received the MacArthur 'genius' fellowship for work at intersection of cryptography and human computation.
ESP Game licensed by Google as Google Image Labeler
ESP Game work was licensed by Google (used to improve Google Image Search via the Google Image Labeler).
Google Tech Talk on Human Computation
Gave a Google Tech Talk on 'Human Computation' which was widely viewed (reported as over one million views).
Widespread reCAPTCHA deployment and daily transcription
reCAPTCHA reported transcribing tens of millions of words per day (figures cited historically; demonstrates scale of the system).
Named to MIT TR35 / Innovators Under 35
Recognized by MIT Technology Review as one of the Innovators Under 35 for contributions to crowdsourcing/human computation.
Invented reCAPTCHA
Created reCAPTCHA — a CAPTCHA variant that leveraged human responses to help digitize scanned texts.
Received Microsoft New Faculty Fellowship
Awarded Microsoft New Faculty Fellowship (recognition for promising faculty).
reCAPTCHA partnership with The New York Times (pilot)
New York Times partnered with reCAPTCHA to help digitize over a century of archives (pilot began around 2007).
Taught 'Science of the Web' course (started Fall 2008)
Began teaching a new CMU course combining graph theory and social science: 'Science of the Web'.
Sloan Research Fellowship awarded
Received an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship in 2009.
Began developing Duolingo with Severin Hacker
Started development of Duolingo (language education platform) with graduate student Severin Hacker; von Ahn as CEO, Hacker as CTO.
reCAPTCHA usage milestone (approx.)
reCAPTCHA reported in use on over 100,000 websites and transcribing tens of millions of words per day (figures reported historically around this time).
Received David and Lucile Packard Foundation Fellowship
Awarded a Packard Fellowship recognizing early-career scientists/engineers.
Sold reCAPTCHA to Google
reCAPTCHA was acquired by Google (reported by Google's official blog on 16 September 2009). Sale amount not publicly specified in these sources.
Public/media recognition for CAPTCHA and GWAPs
Coverage in mainstream outlets (New York Times, USA Today, NOVA, Discovery Channel) raised public profile during late 2000s–2010.
A. Nico Habermann development chair awarded
Awarded the A. Nico Habermann development chair in computer science (a three-year chair for junior faculty of unusual promise).
Officially listed as co-founder and CEO of Duolingo
Formal recognition of roles: Luis von Ahn as co-founder and CEO, Severin Hacker as co-founder and CTO.
Named most influential intellectual of Latin America & Spain (Foreign Policy en español)
Foreign Policy Magazine (Spanish edition) named him the most influential intellectual of Latin America and Spain in 2011.
Listed as person of the year in Guatemala (Siglo Veintiuno)
Siglo Veintiuno named him person of the year in Guatemala (2009 noted in sources; some coverage around 2011 lists influence).
Duolingo private beta launched
Duolingo launched a private beta in November 2011 as it tested its language-learning product with early users.
Received Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists & Engineers
Honored with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2012.
Duolingo app released to public
Duolingo publicly released its app in June 2012, broadly expanding access to free language instruction.
Awarded Order of the Quetzal (Guatemala)
Received Guatemala's highest honor, the Order of the Quetzal, in recognition of his achievements (reported by Smithsonian/NMAH sources).
Spoke at Wikimania conference
Appeared as a speaker at Wikimania (photo/coverage indicates he spoke at Wikimedia conference in Mexico 2015).
Distinguished Leadership Award for Innovation and Social Impact
Received the Distinguished Leadership Award for Innovation and Social Impact from the Inter-American Dialogue.
Awarded Lemelson–MIT Prize ($500,000)
Won the Lemelson–MIT Prize, a $500,000 award honoring inventors improving the world through technology.
reCAPTCHA cumulative contributor milestone
By 2018, over 1 billion people had helped digitize books through reCAPTCHA (cumulative users contributing transcription).
Public statements on Duolingo's social impact
Public comments noting Duolingo educated millions and that 93% of users hadn't paid for the service, highlighting scale and freemium model.
Documented patent portfolio (multiple US patents)
Reported to hold multiple U.S. patents related to CAPTCHA / reCAPTCHA and other inventions (sources state 13 U.S. patents overall).
Duolingo spikes during COVID-19 (reported in 2020)
Von Ahn reported Duolingo saw a spike in usage during the COVID-19 pandemic as more people learned online.
Duolingo valuation milestone: valued at $1.5B
As of May 2020 Duolingo was reported to be valued at US$1.5 billion.
Duolingo monthly active users ~40M
Duolingo reported around 40 million active users per month and offered nearly 40 languages (reported in sources circa 2020).
Released Duolingo ABC literacy app (accelerated due to COVID)
Duolingo moved up release of Duolingo ABC (literacy app for ages 3–6) early in 2020 in several English-speaking countries due to pandemic school closures.
Duolingo English Test acceptance milestone
By 2021 Duolingo's English Test was accepted by over 3,000 institutions worldwide (including Duke, UCLA, Columbia, Dartmouth, NYU, Yale).
Founded Luis von Ahn Foundation
Established the Luis von Ahn Foundation to support Guatemalans (especially women and girls) and local nonprofits.
Named Carnegie Corporation 'Great Immigrant' honoree
Recognized by the Carnegie Corporation of New York as an honoree of the Great Immigrants Award in 2021.
Joined executive committee: Partnership for Central America
Joined the executive committee of the Partnership for Central America to advance economic, education and health initiatives in the region (linked to the U.S. Call to Action announced May 27, 2021).
Luis von Ahn Foundation pledged $3M (2022)
Foundation planned to give US$3 million in 2022 to organizations focused on women's equality, environment, democracy and youth participation.
Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame
Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame (reCAPTCHA patent recognition).
TED Talk (posted/featured 2023)
Featured TED/TEDx content emphasising making learning as addictive as social media — content dates to earlier talk(s) but widely posted/available in 2023.
Public profile & press about wealth
Media coverage (2025) discusses von Ahn's 'billionaire life' in profiles — suggests substantial growth in wealth tied to Duolingo and other interests (coverage varies).
Joined Figma board of directors
Announced joining the board of design-collaboration company Figma as it filed for IPO (reported July 2025).
Key Achievement Ages
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