Duolingo: AI and the Future of Education: Using Human-in-the-Loop AI Responsibly to Revolutionise Language Assessment

Date: Friday, 05 May 2023

Time: 09:25 - 10:00

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is quickly becoming a pivotal part of digital learning and language assessment. At the forefront of this development is the Duolingo English Test (DET) that has consistently used human-in-the-loop AI technology to offer an accessible and inclusive language assessment for university admission purposes. The DET is a digital-first assessment that is guided by responsible AI standards that enhance the test ecosystem, enhance test credibility, and further position the DET as a leader in language assessment (Burstein et al., 2023).

This presentation will discuss how responsible AI standards are used to create the DET with a focus on promoting test-taker access and inclusion, and reducing test bias. It further highlights the ethical considerations for using human-in-the-loop AI that are integrated into the test design to ensure that the test results are valid and reliable. Finally, we will demonstrate how human-in-the-loop AI is used to create and calibrate the items on the DET, and how this process contributes to enhancing the fairness of the test and its ability to accurately measure test-takers’ English proficiency.