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Title: Duolingo Faces Massive Social Media Backlash After 'AI-First' Comments

Link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/05/25/0347...

"Duolingo had been riding high," reports Fast Company, until CEO Luis von Ahn
"announced on LinkedIn that the company is phasing out human contractors,
looking for AI use in hiring and in performance reviews, and that 'headcount
will only be given if a team cannot automate more of their work.'" But then
"facing heavy backlash online after unveiling its new AI-first policy",
Duolingo's social media presence went dark last weekend. Duolingo even
temporarily took down all its posts on TikTok (6.7 million followers) and
Instagram (4.1 million followers) "after both accounts were flooded with
negative feedback." Duolingo previously faced criticism for quietly laying
off 10% of its contractor base and introducing some AI features in late 2023,
but it barely went beyond a semi-viral post on Reddit. Now that Duolingo is
cutting out all its human contractors whose work can technically be done by
AI, and relying on more AI-generated language lessons, the response is far
more pronounced. Although earlier TikTok videos are not currently visible, a
Fast Company article from May 12 captured a flavor of the reaction: The top
comments on virtually every recent post have nothing to do with the video or
the company - and everything to do with the company's embrace of AI. For
example, a Duolingo TikTok video jumping on board the "Mama, may I have a
cookie" trend saw replies like "Mama, may I have real people running the
company" (with 69,000 likes) and "How about NO ai, keep your employees...."
And then... After days of silence, on Tuesday the company posted a bizarre
video message on TikTok and Instagram, the meaning of which is hard to
decipher... Duolingo's first video drop in days has the degraded, stuttering
feel of a Max Headroom video made by the hackers at Anonymous. In it, a
supposed member of the company's social team appears in a three-eyed Duo mask
and black hoodie to complain about the corporate overlords ruining the empire
the heroic social media crew built. "But this is something Duolingo can't
cute-post its way out of," Fast Company wrote on Tuesday, complaining the
company "has not yet meaningfully addressed the policies that inspired the
backlash against it... " So the next video (Thursday) featured Duolingo CEO
Luis von Ahn himself, being confronted by that same hoodie-wearing social
media rebel, who says "I'm making the man who caused this mess accountable
for his behavior. I'm demanding answers from the CEO..." [Though the video
carefully sidesteps the issue of replacing contractors with AI or how
"headcount will only be given if a team cannot automate more of their work."]
Rebel: First question. So are there going to be any humans left at this
company? CEO: Our employees are what make Duolingo so amazing. Our app is so
great because our employees made it... So we're going to continue having
employees, and not only that, we're actually going to be hiring more
employees. Rebel: How do we know that these aren't just empty promises? As
long as you're in charge, we could still be shuffled out once the media fire
dies down. And we all know that in terms of automation, CEOs should be the
first to go. CEO: AI is a fundamental shift. It's going to change how we all
do work - including me. And honestly, I don't really know what's going to
happen. But I want us, as a company, to have our workforce prepared by really
knowing how to use AI so that we can be more efficient with it. Rebel:
Learning a foreign language is literally about human connection. How is that
even possible with AI-first? CEO: Yes, language is about human connection,
and it's about people. And this is the thing about AI. AI will allow us to
reach more people, and to teach more people. I mean for example, it took us
about 10 years to develop the first 100 courses on Duolingo, and now in under
a year, with the help of AI and of course with humans reviewing all the work,
we were able to release another 100 courses in less than a year. Rebel: So do
you regret posting this memo on LinkedIn. CEO: Honestly, I think I messed up
sending that email. What we're trying to do is empower our own employees to
be able to achieve more and be able to have way more content to teach better
and reach more people all with the help of AI. Returning to where it all
started, Duolingo's CEO posted again on LinkedIn Thursday with "more context"
for his vision. It still emphasizes the company's employees while
sidestepping contractors replaced by AI. But it puts a positive spin on how
"headcount will only be given if a team cannot automate more of their work."
I've always encouraged our team to embrace new technology (that's why we
originally built for mobile instead of desktop), and we are taking that same
approach with AI. By understanding the capabilities and limitations of AI
now, we can stay ahead of it and remain in control of our own product and our
mission. To be clear: I do not see AI as replacing what our employees do (we
are in fact continuing to hire at the same speed as before). I see it as a
tool to accelerate what we do, at the same or better level of quality. And
the sooner we learn how to use it, and use it responsibly, the better off we
will be in the long run. My goal is for Duos to feel empowered and prepared
to use this technology. No one is expected to navigate this shift alone.
We're developing workshops and advisory councils, and carving out dedicated
experimentation time to help all our teams learn and adapt. People work at
Duolingo because they want to solve big problems to improve education, and
the people who work here are what make Duolingo successful. Our mission isn't
changing, but the tools we use to build new things will change. I remain
committed to leading Duolingo in a way that is consistent with our mission to
develop the best education in the world and make it universally available.
"The backlash to Duolingo is the latest evidence that 'AI-first' tends to be
a concept with much more appeal to investors and managers than most regular
people," notes Fortune: And it's not hard to see why. Generative AI is often
trained on reams of content that may have been illegally accessed; much of
its output is bizarre or incorrect; and some leaders in the field are opposed
to regulations on the technology. But outside particular niches in entry-
level white-collar work, AI's productivity gains have yet to materialize.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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