Luis von Ahn is a Guatemalan-American entrepreneur, computer scientist, and software developer, widely recognized as a pioneer in crowdsourcing and human computation. He is the co-founder and CEO of Duolingo, a language-learning app that went public in 2021. Born on August 19, 1978, in Guatemala City, Guatemala, he earned a Bachelor of Science in computer science from the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala in 1998, followed by a Master of Science in 2002 and a PhD in computer science in 2005 from Carnegie Mellon University. His entrepreneurial journey includes co-inventing CAPTCHA in 2000, which evolved into reCAPTCHA in 2007—a tool that digitizes books by using unsolved text snippets—and selling it to Google in 2009. Motivated by a desire to democratize education, he co-founded Duolingo in 2011 with Severin Hacker, creating a gamified, free language-learning app that has amassed over 500 million users. As CEO, he led the company through significant growth, culminating in its initial public offering on the NASDAQ in July 2021, valuing Duolingo at around $6.5 billion at debut. His work emphasizes accessibility, particularly for underserved populations, and he has received accolades such as a MacArthur Fellowship in 2006 and inclusion in Time's 100 Most Influential People in 2016. Beyond business, von Ahn remains committed to academia and social impact, continuing to teach at Carnegie Mellon and investing in tech startups. His Guatemalan roots influence his focus on global education equity, and he advocates for technology that benefits humanity broadly. He resides in Pittsburgh, where Duolingo is headquartered.