Luis von Ahn Quotes

• Before the Internet, coordinating more than 100,000 people, let alone paying them, was essentially impossible. But now with the Internet, I've just shown you a project where we've gotten 750 million people to help us digitize human knowledge.

  Luis von Ahn

  Motivation, Inspiration, Technology

  52 Copy quote

• I co-founded Duolingo with the mission of bringing free language education to the world.

  Luis von Ahn

  World, Language, Missions

  10 Copy quote

• The question that motivates my research is, if we can put a man on the Moon with 100,000 [people], what can we do with 100 million?

  Luis von Ahn

  Technology, Men, Moon

  "Can You Crowdsource Without Even Knowing It?". 'TED Radio Hour' with Guy Raz, www.npr.org. July 12, 2013.

  14 Copy quote

• I am always able to keep a laser focus on one thing at a time without getting distracted. It helps that I try to break everything I do into small, achievable tasks.

  Luis von Ahn

  Focus, Trying, Able

  10 Copy quote

• Because education is such a broad area, I chose to focus on language learning.

  Luis von Ahn

  Focus, Language, Broads

  7 Copy quote

• In 2011, after spending a couple of years working at Google, I decided that I wanted to dedicate myself to helping to transform education. I was particularly inspired by my upbringing in Guatemala, a poor country where high-quality educational opportunities are limited to those who have money.

  Luis von Ahn

  Country, Couple, Educational

  8 Copy quote

• If you get asked to do something that would take place down the road (say you get asked to speak at a conference that's a year away) and you wouldn't want to do it if it were taking place next week, then don't do it. This advice has helped me evaluate the opportunities that I truly want to dedicate my time to and those that I don't.

  Luis von Ahn

  Opportunity, Next Week, Years

  5 Copy quote

• One fact we're particularly proud of is that there are more people learning languages on Duolingo in the US than there are people learning languages in the entire US public school system.

  Luis von Ahn

  School, People, Proud

  8 Copy quote

• [Captchas] are not only annoying, but they kill 10 seconds of your time.

  Luis von Ahn

  Annoying, Seconds

  7 Copy quote

• People are good at figuring out what's attractive, and computers are good at quickly searching and finding. You put them together, and bang!

  Luis von Ahn

  People, Together, Bangs

  "For Certain Tasks, The Cortex Still Beats The CPU". Interview with Clive Thompson, www.wired.com. June 25, 2007.

  10 Copy quote

• The current business model for language education is the student pays — in particular, the student pays Rosetta Stone $500. The problem with this business model is that 95 percent of the world’s population doesn’t have $500.

  Luis von Ahn

  Pay, Population, World

  8 Copy quote

• I finished reading High Output Management by Andrew Grove, which had such valuable insights for leaders that I've been forcing managers at Duolingo to read the book.

  Luis von Ahn

  Reading, Book, Leader

  5 Copy quote

• I usually make to-do lists with timelines, and pen and paper does the trick for me.

  Luis von Ahn

  Doe, Paper, Lists

  8 Copy quote

• It's hard to think of a time when I'm not working, but when that is the case, I like to travel and eat good food.

  Luis von Ahn

  Thinking, Good Food, Cases

  5 Copy quote

• Every time you buy tickets on Ticketmaster, you help to digitize a book.

  Luis von Ahn

  Book, Technology, Tickets

  7 Copy quote

• This sounds strange to many people, but I work out for exactly 16 minutes every day, and do so at maximum speed by running 2.5 miles. This keeps me healthy without taking up too much time so I can stay focused on other things. It's one of the most efficient things I do each day.

  Luis von Ahn

  Running, People, Work Out

  5 Copy quote

• My ultimate research goal is to transform our human existence to just eating, sleeping, drinking, playing - nevermind.

  Luis von Ahn

  Drinking, Sleep, Goal

  13 Copy quote

• Together with my advisor, Manuel Blum, I co-invented CAPTCHAs, or computer-generated tests that humans are routinely able to pass but that computers have not mastered (they are the squiggly computer letters that are prevalent across the web).

  Luis von Ahn

  Together, Letters, Tests

  5 Copy quote

• I worked on a number of projects that were used by millions of people and that also served as inspiration to what we now call "crowd-sourcing."

  Luis von Ahn

  Inspiration, Numbers, People

  6 Copy quote

• I am an early riser, and always wake up between 5 and 6am.

  Luis von Ahn

  Wake Up

  6 Copy quote

• I watch a lot of TV. That's how I spend most of my time outside of work. If I had more time, I would fill it 100 percent with watching TV.

  Luis von Ahn

  Watching Tv, Watches, Tvs

  "Profile: Luis von Ahn". Interview with Neil DeGrasse Tyson, www.pbs.org. June 30, 2009.

  6 Copy quote

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