I canceled my subscription. In part because fuck using AI to hurt labor, but also unemployment. Capitalists want us to spend spend spend, but they don't want to give us any money to spend.
this post was submitted on 22 May 2025
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Duolingo deletes all its TikTok videos after AI backlash—and then returns with a strange message
(www.fastcompany.com)
Exactly that. Everyone is obsessed with eternal growth, pushing SaaS offerings our throats and even more subscriptions. There is a real estate crisis, where putting a roof over your head becomes an even more distant dream for the majority of the working population and greedy companies are firing people and replacing them with AI and then they wonder why people are revolting. Eat the rich!
They’re desperate to bring back slavery.
Slavery never went away, they just added extra steps.
Capitalists want us to spend spend spend, but they don’t want to give us any money to spend.
The capitalists want you to spend spend spend, but they're a dying breed. The neofeudalists -- the group that really runs stuff at this point -- don't really care what you do because they're too busy extracting the wealth of the capitalists.
I guess it's like the difference between a parasite that doesn't kill the host, and one that does. The current breed looks like it's going to kill the host.
💯
When you have so much capital, the only place to get any meaningful amount more from is the capitalists underneath you whose business you haven't turned into a dried out husk yet.
You shouldn't have subscribed in the first place.
Just uninstall and stop engaging with Duolingo marketing.
Sometimes, the best way to make noise is to disappear first.
Great advice! I'll do just that. Uninstalled.
just marketing I assume. duo has always been a weird marketer
considering they said theyre gonna replace all their employees with ai, i wouldnt be surprised if this is the marketing departments' last backlash.
It doesn't matter if its good news, bad news, strange news, weird news ... its news and they're all talking about you
“Let’s just say we’re experimenting with silence,” a spokesperson for Duolingo told Fast Company over email. “Sometimes, the best way to make noise is to disappear first.”
Even assuming we're okay with using AI for language learning - then why would anyone pay for Duolingo instead of the many LLMs that people already use and pay for?
They've alienated their customer base hard. And this marketing video pretending they are siding with the users and against "their corporate overlords" is horribly tone deaf.
Perhaps because their app and its gamification of learning is addictive and quite fun.
This is it for me. All of this has me pretty down, because the gamification works really well on me and I enjoy it. But fuck AI.
What you're saying absolutely makes sense. However as someone with ADHD I couldn't relate any less, I wish I could get addicted to something like that and not lose interest after ten minutes!
Fucking click bait title
Save us a click - cliffnotes?
Strange message,
Let’s just say we’re experimenting with silence,” a spokesperson for Duolingo told Fast Company over email. “Sometimes, the best way to make noise is to disappear first."
This from a company that‘s supposed to teach you languages… I am laughing out loud.
That's actually funny.
The TikTok post has been up for days by now. If this was truly a disgruntled employee posting against the company, it would have been taken down by down despite the passwords being changed. This is a corpo post.
Yeah I’m dropping my super subscription and my usage of the app. Fuck AI, and fuck the companies using it to deepen the enshitification of tech.
Is Elon consulting for them?
Going to take this opportunity to ask if anyone knows about a good alternative?
I've downloaded, but haven't tried it yet, but hear good things about Mango Languages Learning.
I enjoy Mango a lot more than Duolingo. I didn’t like Duolingo’s rote memorization of phrases. Mango adds structure and explanation, so you build and compose.
Also, worth mentioning that you might get free access to Mango through your public library.
Pimsleur is waaaay better. Not as gamified tho.
That reminds me, I should start practicing German on Babbel (not sponsored, but open to sponsorships :P ) https://www.babbel.com/mobile
Is babbel free software?
Doing a quick check I see that it’s like $17 for a monthly plan. Yikes
I don't think so, no :(
And so the A.I. larp begins.
Just randos larping as AI mainframe or whatever.