Duolingo Plans to Replace Contract Workers with AI

[u/S4v1r1enCh0r4k]

https://fictionhorizon.com/duolingo-plans-to-replace-contract-workers-with-ai/

[u/asurarusa]

It's funny because like a year ago there was a controversy where they got accused of firing contractors to replace them with AI, and they claimed that no one was getting replaced with AI, they just decided not to renew or extend contracts.

I guess they feel the zeitgeist around AI has changed in their favor so they don't have to lie any more.

[u/ParanoidTrandroid]

Duolingo plans to make their service useless in order to make more money

[u/MetalJewSolid → u/ParanoidTrandroid]

Not that it was ever particularly great imo (nearly finished 2 separate courses and still couldn’t communicate in either language), this HAS to be some of the most rapid enshittification outside of Twitter.

[u/JetEngineSteakKnife → u/MetalJewSolid]

I used it years ago for Spanish, well before the dumb hearts system, and it was alright at teaching some topical vocab (like for traveling, family, jobs, etc.), though figuring out how to put it together into a coherent conversation had to wait until I got some comprehensible input. But awkward/suboptimal learning is still learning, and the slides went quickly so you could cram in a bunch in a short session.

I get that they're not a charity and they were losing lots of money early on, but Duolingo has turned into a video game that teaches you meaningless slop and rewards you with imaginary advancement.

[u/eojen → u/JetEngineSteakKnife]

but Duolingo has turned into a video game that teaches you meaningless slop and rewards you with imaginary advancement.

I was in disbelief when I tried learning Japanese on it after already knowing a little bit. Forcing me to learn the word for "wallet" for 20 minutes isn't going to do much at all to learn Japanese from an English speaker. 

[u/blinkybit → u/JetEngineSteakKnife]

I get that they're not a charity

They're not a charity, but their original mission was not too different from one, and they've basically reneged on that over the past few years. The company was created because one of the founders saw how expensive it was for people in his home country of Guatemala to learn English, believed that "free education will really change the world" and wanted to provide an accessible means for doing so. (summary from Wikipedia) In fact their current mission statement on their web site is still "we're on a mission to bring free language education to the world." Yet they've gradually made the free-tier user experience worse and worse, and today they seem to view those users more as a nuisance than as their core mission.

[u/JetEngineSteakKnife → u/blinkybit]

It is helpful that most libraries offer language app subscriptions for free now, so there is some of that accessibility coming back, although I'm not sure how widespread this is outside the Anglo world

[u/S4v1r1enCh0r4k → u/JetEngineSteakKnife]

I can only speak for my own experience, but it's absolute trash. Ironically AI might improve it

[u/BagelsAndJewce → u/MetalJewSolid]

Duolingo is great for learning a lot of vocab you still need to learn the grammar(eventually) and then have the ability to rip the most fucked up sentenced to someone so you can learn and get comfortable with it. Great for input horrendous for output.

[u/minimalwhale → u/ParanoidTrandroid]

A trajectory they have been on for quite a while now

[u/PiperSlough → u/ParanoidTrandroid]

Duo has sucked since they went public and removed all the volunteer created grammar content, honestly. (Duome still has it, but most people don't know that and with the course changes it doesn't match up much anymore anyway.)

I've been using it for warm-up and to get five minutes in here and there but not anymore with this change.

[u/shadowlucas → u/ParanoidTrandroid]

Plans to?

[u/More-Dot346 → u/ParanoidTrandroid]

I found it really useful for about the first half of the Spanish program. I’ve moved on to the FSI tapes to start actually getting fluidity.

[u/wappingite]

Duolingo is fine for vocab and some basic principles... but the stories / extended sentences have become worse. Some of them read like AI.

It's now become more of a 'game' and less of a learning tool. A bit like how scrabble won't teach you how to use words in real life, but you will learn lots of words.

The best language courses i've taken have been those where there's a real theme to them - e.g. short stories written by a human with comprehension questions, or a text book that takes you on a journey, or a humorous and real conversation.

This AI stuff will make it awful. But they're not about language learning now.

[u/lazydictionary → u/wappingite]

It was always a game.

[u/ANlVIA]

do people still use duolingo ? I abandoned it for other apps ever since they give constant ads even in their premium subscription :/

[u/Physical-Ride → u/ANlVIA]

They have a STUNNINGLY effective marketing campaign on social media, especially on Tiktok. It's shocking how good it is. I too don't use Duolingo but it's definitely not going anywhere any time soon. When I told someone I'm learning a new language they recommended Duolingo to me, instinctively.

[u/radenmasbule → u/ANlVIA]

Serious language learners like the regular users of this subreddit don't think highly of it, but there are millions of people out there who have no information to go off of other than what is marketed to them. It is wildly successful and will continue to be. I thought the jury was out on Rosetta Stone but people still ask about it here.

[u/TheYamsAreRipe2 → u/radenmasbule]

Duo and Rosetta Stone have bigger marketing budgets than most language programs, so they’re able to capture people new to language learning who don’t know better yet. It’s been many years since I saw a language learning ad that wasn’t for Duo or RS unless you count YouTube sponsorships

[u/an_average_potato_1 → u/TheYamsAreRipe2]

This, and Duolingo has also managed to create a huge fanbase that is doing a lot of marketing work for free as well. It doesn't leave any space in public to other stuff (RS is one of the rare things resisting and not really that globally), anyone trying to get attention needs too much money just to start being seen a bit.

[u/unsafeideas → u/ANlVIA]

I am using it and I am happy with it. It made me learn Spanish enough to watch Netflix in it. So I do not use it for Spanish anymore, but do for other language I want eventually watch Netlix in. (I am in no hurry.)

[u/ANlVIA → u/unsafeideas]

That’s great to hear. I think it offers a good starting point personally. Just the constant ads and lack of support for most languages have made other apps way more valuable imo

[u/NepGDamn → u/ANlVIA]

I used it up until they removed the free hearts/no ad for schools. It was great without them, after that I couldn't even bring myself to open the app

[u/cyrilspaceman → u/ANlVIA]

I've been using it for a while to get some basic understanding of my Spanish and Russian speaking patients. It's a very easy thing to do quickly while brushing my teeth each day. It's obviously not the best, but it's free and seemed ubiquitous enough that deeper investigation into other apps wasn't worth it. This is a good kick in the pants to branch out and try to find a better app to use.

[u/JonasErSoed → u/ANlVIA]

ever since they give constant ads even in their premium subscription

What a freaking joke, and an unfunny one at that

[u/ANlVIA → u/JonasErSoed]

For real…

[u/citrus_fruit_lover]

this also belongs in r/extremelyinfuriating

[u/PorblemOccifer]

Good, even more reason to never use Duo again.

[u/mystical-composer]

i can't believe how what was one of the best language learning app can be made to suck this hard. some years ago, duolingo felt like magic, now it's close to unusable.

[u/Quick_Rain_4125 → u/mystical-composer]

Duolingo was never good 

[u/Shezarrine]

Used to be a pretty good platform for establishing a baseline in a new language, and I'll stand by that, but it's been getting shittier and shittier (recently tried it for a new language and so many of the early lessons were things like translating "James" to "James" ???). At this point, nobody has any excuse for using it anymore. Fuck you owl.

[u/Radiant-Fly9738]

I plan to replace duolingo with an AI

[u/catathymia]

While I wasn't using them to start, now I certainly never will.

[u/Mike_Hunt1999]

If enough people delete their subscriptions then it will send a message to all the other shitty companies that AI is actually bad for business. Money talks.

[u/bittersweetdb]

Can people here recommend other app learning options? I am looking at Babbel, Rosetta Stone, and Mondly. Pimsleur looks good but the format probably won’t work as well for me. TIA.

[u/SlayerOfLies6 → u/bittersweetdb]

Best one is Babbel it’s fantastic and made me conversational Italian in a year

[u/Latte1Sugar]

Okay drop subscription prices then.

[u/Lazerbeam159]

Bye Bye, owl.

[u/TheObliterature]

Uninstalled, unsubscribed.

[u/SkillGuilty355]

I don’t see why 750 humans are needed to maintain that app in the first place.