Richie CottonSenior Data Evangelist, DataCamp · Ask me about data and AI upskilling

Creating an AI-First Data Team | Bilal Zia, Duolingo

Name: Creating an AI-First Data Team | Bilal Zia, Duolingo
Uploaded: 2026-01-02T15:23:23+00:00
Duration: 42 s
Channel: Richie Cotton
Description: Bilal Zia from Duolingo argues that building an AI-first data team means investing in people, not ideas. He calls AI an "army of research assistants"…

2 Jan 2026 · 1 min

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Bilal Zia from Duolingo argues that building an AI-first data team means investing in people, not ideas. He calls AI an "army of research assistants" that augments rather than replaces data scientists, but humans must stay in the loop to ensure quality.

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The biggest success I had was investing in the people, not in ideas, because I think that order is really important. Ideas don't become successful if you don't have good people in the team. So finding that sweet spot between being able to communicate technical expertise and technical concepts in a simple, intuitive way is probably the most valued skill at Duolingo. AI is not going to replace what data scientists do do. I believe that AI is going to augment what we do. So I think of AI as basically an army of research assistants. So every single data scientist can have access to an army of research assistants. From my perspective, there is still a strong need for a human in the loop.