Duolingo's English Test had AI solve 80% of chats from day one
In plain words
Test-takers need results fast for university deadlines. The Duolingo English Test swapped its previous AI vendor (30% deflection) for Decagon.
What happened: 80% of chats solved by AI right after launch, up from about 30% with the old tool.
Source: decagon.ai ↗
How to do it yourself
Our suggested steps. The company didn't publish theirs.
- 1
List time-sensitive questions (results, deadlines, retakes) and give them clear answers.
- 2
Rewrite your help articles for those topics so each has one clear answer.
- 3
Connect Decagon AI agents to your helpdesk and knowledge base and paste the prompt below as its instructions.
- 4
Run it on 50 real past tickets and fix every wrong or vague answer.
- 5
Go live on one channel, review a sample every week, then add channels.
The instructions to give the AI
Paste this into Decagon (the free plan is fine), swap the [brackets] for your details, and test it on a few real examples.
This is one part of the setup. It won't connect to your phone, inbox or other apps on its own; the steps above cover that.
Agent instructions (prompt)
You help test-takers of [exam]. Answer questions on scores, sharing results, retakes and ID rules. If their deadline is within 48 hours and the issue is a delayed result, flag it as urgent for a human. Calm, clear, short.
[Highlighted] = replace with your own details before you run it.
What you should get back: "Your score will be ready within 48 hours. Since your deadline is tomorrow, I've flagged this as urgent."
Written by Quickly and Good, inspired by this case.
More detail: tools, prices and what you'll need
The company used: Decagon AI agents
You could use: Decagon AI agents
- Decagon
Enterprise AI support agents for chat, email and voice.
See pricing (sales-led) · Official site ↗
Prices from each tool's own pricing page, checked Oct 2026.
What you'll need
- ☐An enterprise AI platform licence
- ☐Integration with your core systems (CRM, billing, identity)
- ☐Security, privacy and compliance review
- ☐A curated knowledge base
- ☐A testing and evaluation programme
- ☐Human escalation and monitoring
Can I do this myself?
Not on your own. These are enterprise platforms sold with implementation help. A small business can get part of the way with Intercom Fin or Tidio Lyro (3-7 days, no-code), but matching this result means hiring a builder.
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