Duolingo's ex-product head says high agency beats experience in AI era, emphasizing curiosity, energy, and beginner's mindset over years of expertise when hiring top performers.

Albert Cheng, former head of product at Duolingo and Grammarly, said that in today’s fast-moving AI landscape, high agency often matters more than deep experience. Speaking on an episode of Lenny’s Podcast released on Sunday, Cheng emphasized that the most effective performers he encountered weren’t always the most seasoned professionals. Instead, they were individuals with strong initiative, fast thinking, and a high level of energy. “They cared about the mission, but they didn’t necessarily need to have deep experience in the area,” Cheng said. He noted that experience can sometimes act as a hindrance, especially when the fundamentals of a field are changing rapidly. “In this world where the grounds are shifting so fast with AI, a lot of your learned habits actually need to be intentionally discarded,” he added. Cheng stressed the importance of approaching AI with a beginner’s mind—being open to unlearning and adapting. “You need to have a beginner’s mind on this type of stuff. So, I think this is more true than ever,” he said. Now chief growth officer at Chess.com, Cheng shared insights into how he identifies high-agency talent. He revealed that hiring decisions are often shaped by cues beyond traditional interviews. “A lot of it actually happens outside of the interview process,” he said. He pays close attention to whether candidates have actually used the product deeply, the quality of questions they ask, how they communicate during scheduling, and the overall energy they bring to the conversation. “I’ve learned to balance those things quite a bit more than I did in the past when I would just purely read from my questions in my rubric and not care about anything else,” he added. Cheng’s perspective aligns with a growing sentiment among tech leaders. Liang Wenfeng, founder of the Chinese AI lab DeepSeek, has also argued that creativity and passion outweigh experience when building for the long term. “If you are pursuing short-term goals, it is right to find people with ready experience,” he said in a 2023 interview. “But if you look at the long-term, experience is not that important. Basic skills, creativity, and passion are much more important.” Similarly, LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky recently stated that adaptability and initiative will define the future of work. “My guess is that the future of work belongs not anymore to the people that have the fanciest degrees or went to the best colleges, but to the people who are adaptable, forward thinking, ready to learn, and ready to embrace these tools,” he said during a fireside chat. These voices reflect a broader shift: in an era of rapid technological change, the ability to act, learn quickly, and take ownership may be more valuable than years of prior experience.