Duolingo CEO tries to walk back AI-first comments, fails
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- Following backlash to statements that Duolingo will be AI-first, threatening jobs in the process, CEO Luis von Ahn has tried to walk back his statement.
- Unfortunately, the CEO doesn’t walk back any of the key points he originally outlined, choosing instead to try, and fail to placate the maddening crowd.
- Unfortunately the PR team may soon be replaced by AI as this latest statement has done anything but instil confidence in the firm’s users.
If you're gonna be a shitty company and do shitty things, just STFU. I don't know why they think they can talk their way out of it, it's like they believe their own BS.
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- Following backlash to statements that Duolingo will be AI-first, threatening jobs in the process, CEO Luis von Ahn has tried to walk back his statement.
- Unfortunately, the CEO doesn’t walk back any of the key points he originally outlined, choosing instead to try, and fail to placate the maddening crowd.
- Unfortunately the PR team may soon be replaced by AI as this latest statement has done anything but instil confidence in the firm’s users.
Last year in February I uninstalled the app on a perfect, 2000-day streak when I got the first whiff of AI; I'm probably never going back
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If you're gonna be a shitty company and do shitty things, just STFU. I don't know why they think they can talk their way out of it, it's like they believe their own BS.
Because it worked since Steve Apple did the iphone. techie bootlickers larped it all up, furiously defending "their CEO" from any criticism online. It has hard to do it now with out being called for being a pathetic bootlicker, so most don't even try any more.
The parasites are now learning that the sentiment has turned, it will take sometime until their "PR" consultants catch on and come with some new "act"
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- Following backlash to statements that Duolingo will be AI-first, threatening jobs in the process, CEO Luis von Ahn has tried to walk back his statement.
- Unfortunately, the CEO doesn’t walk back any of the key points he originally outlined, choosing instead to try, and fail to placate the maddening crowd.
- Unfortunately the PR team may soon be replaced by AI as this latest statement has done anything but instil confidence in the firm’s users.
Any recommended alternatives?
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- Following backlash to statements that Duolingo will be AI-first, threatening jobs in the process, CEO Luis von Ahn has tried to walk back his statement.
- Unfortunately, the CEO doesn’t walk back any of the key points he originally outlined, choosing instead to try, and fail to placate the maddening crowd.
- Unfortunately the PR team may soon be replaced by AI as this latest statement has done anything but instil confidence in the firm’s users.
I just started using Duolingo to learn Spanish. Can anyone recommend alternatives they have had success with that function the same way?
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Check out "Language Drops" and "Rosetta Stone" if you're looking for replacements. They both have very different approaches to language learning (both from each other and from Duolingo), but their content is at the very least much better curated than Duolingo's.
I haven't gone out of my way to check but AFAIK neither of them is jumping on the AI-before-anything-else train.
Thanks for the recommendations!
I have actually switched over to Mango Languages because my library gives free access to it.
But if I don’t end up liking that I’ll give these a shot.
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Where is the discussion for replacing CEOs with AI? Seems like predicting market trends based off of historical data and managing corporate resources would be just the sort of thing that AI would be good at. Plus it would cost way less and not require massive bonuses nor ownership of the company.
Well, the crux of the problem is that AI is trying to approximate intelligence. That's not useful for a CEO.
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- Following backlash to statements that Duolingo will be AI-first, threatening jobs in the process, CEO Luis von Ahn has tried to walk back his statement.
- Unfortunately, the CEO doesn’t walk back any of the key points he originally outlined, choosing instead to try, and fail to placate the maddening crowd.
- Unfortunately the PR team may soon be replaced by AI as this latest statement has done anything but instil confidence in the firm’s users.
Classic "I've made a HUGE mistake" moment from yet another "thought leader" suffering from AI/layoff FOMO.
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Check out "Language Drops" and "Rosetta Stone" if you're looking for replacements. They both have very different approaches to language learning (both from each other and from Duolingo), but their content is at the very least much better curated than Duolingo's.
I haven't gone out of my way to check but AFAIK neither of them is jumping on the AI-before-anything-else train.
My recommendation is Language Transfer, a freely-available system for multiple languages that, in my opinion, helps you to think in another language better than any other system I have tried.
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faux pas
Not much of a "faux" pas. Not only did he double down on it, but the board supported him.
"the board" lol yeah they used to be governing mechanisms instead of a clown car full of sycophants.
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Because it worked since Steve Apple did the iphone. techie bootlickers larped it all up, furiously defending "their CEO" from any criticism online. It has hard to do it now with out being called for being a pathetic bootlicker, so most don't even try any more.
The parasites are now learning that the sentiment has turned, it will take sometime until their "PR" consultants catch on and come with some new "act"
Point of order; Steve Apple actually did awesome shit. Macintosh, iphone, NExT, Pixar, saved an enshittening company, etc.
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Point of order; Steve Apple actually did awesome shit. Macintosh, iphone, NExT, Pixar, saved an enshittening company, etc.
sure... good for him but why does every fucking parasite now think they can fill his shoes?
and how were they able to this cosplay for this long with out being called for it?
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sure... good for him but why does every fucking parasite now think they can fill his shoes?
and how were they able to this cosplay for this long with out being called for it?
Well, those are different questions . . .
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- Following backlash to statements that Duolingo will be AI-first, threatening jobs in the process, CEO Luis von Ahn has tried to walk back his statement.
- Unfortunately, the CEO doesn’t walk back any of the key points he originally outlined, choosing instead to try, and fail to placate the maddening crowd.
- Unfortunately the PR team may soon be replaced by AI as this latest statement has done anything but instil confidence in the firm’s users.
In another thread someone told me you can buy gems or something to keep your streak going.
That would've made me uninstall long before his comments.
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I just started using Duolingo to learn Spanish. Can anyone recommend alternatives they have had success with that function the same way?
Anki is free. If you need gamification, then perhaps memrize is for you. I'd just go with anki though. Ankidroid is a good app to work with the anki decks.
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I canceled my sub, but sadly not out of principle on the AI thing. I just accidentally hit the button that accepts an upgrade to the family plan and it didn't look like there was an easy way to undo it so I just killed the whole subscription.
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I hear good things about Pimsleur as an alternative.
Learn New Languages Online: Effective Programs for Beginners
Learn languages online with Pimsleur's effective language learning programs. Start learning another language in a fun way at your own pace. Sign up today!
Pimsleur (www.pimsleur.com)
Pimsleur has been making "real" language courses for 20+ years, you could get CD's with languages back then, there should be plenty to choose from.
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- Following backlash to statements that Duolingo will be AI-first, threatening jobs in the process, CEO Luis von Ahn has tried to walk back his statement.
- Unfortunately, the CEO doesn’t walk back any of the key points he originally outlined, choosing instead to try, and fail to placate the maddening crowd.
- Unfortunately the PR team may soon be replaced by AI as this latest statement has done anything but instil confidence in the firm’s users.
The missing comma in the second bullet point changes the meaning of the sentence.
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Check out "Language Drops" and "Rosetta Stone" if you're looking for replacements. They both have very different approaches to language learning (both from each other and from Duolingo), but their content is at the very least much better curated than Duolingo's.
I haven't gone out of my way to check but AFAIK neither of them is jumping on the AI-before-anything-else train.
Many libraries also give out subscriptions.to Mango. That is usually a paid app and much better than doulingo
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I just started using Duolingo to learn Spanish. Can anyone recommend alternatives they have had success with that function the same way?
I tried out a bunch, including Babbel, Busuu, Language Transfer, Mango, and Memrise. I didn't like them for one reason or another. I finally landed on Lingodeer. It's similar to Duolingo, but it is a paid app. (You can try level 1 of any language for free.)
The regular subscription price is definitely not worth it. It's okay (not great, but not awful) when they do their sales. But I felt okay about paying human workers.
This kind of learning is a great start, but will only get you so far. If your local library has access to Kanopy, look for the Great Courses series on Spanish. I thought that was an excellent series after a little bit of Duolingo.