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 More Quotes by Luis von Ahn More Quotes From Luis von Ahn 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 technology motivation inspiration 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 moon men 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 bangs together people I co-founded Duolingo with the mission of bringing free language education to the world. Luis von Ahn missions language world [Captchas] are not only annoying, but they kill 10 seconds of your time. Luis von Ahn seconds annoying Every time you buy tickets on Ticketmaster, you help to digitize a book. Luis von Ahn tickets technology book 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 population pay world 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 tests together letters My ultimate research goal is to transform our human existence to just eating, sleeping, drinking, playing - nevermind. Luis von Ahn goal drinking sleep 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 tvs watches 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 educational couple country Because education is such a broad area, I chose to focus on language learning. Luis von Ahn broads focus language 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 proud people school 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 good-food cases thinking 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 able focus trying I am an early riser, and always wake up between 5 and 6am. Luis von Ahn wake-up 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 leader reading book I usually make to-do lists with timelines, and pen and paper does the trick for me. Luis von Ahn lists paper doe 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 work-out running people 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
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