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).

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

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."

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

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.

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