The Duolingo AI controversy is much deeper than you think.

If you've been using Duolingo, or if you're self-studying a language, you might have heard that the CEO of the owl app has decided to go "AI-only", thus replacing all the human language professionals working for them - translators, linguists, teachers, and so on.

This caused a massive outrage among its users and prompted a wide-scale boycott. People were posting about proudly giving up their (sometimes years-long) learning streak and even deleting their data completely from the app.

The outrage did not end here: expectedly, people also flooded Duolingo's social media posts with negative comments on their decision, causing the owl app to delete all their TikTok videos.

If you've been following me for a long time, you might have read my older article In defense of Duolingo. Well, now there's not much left to defend anymore: being an imperfect app with its bugs and flaws is okay to an extent, apps are meant to be updated and improved and imperfections are part of an app's life, we know. But, once you put your contractors' financial stability and careers on the line because you want to be able to generate 150 courses in one year, it's hard to feel any sympathy, honestly.

However, as someone who used Duolingo for a while and as someone who has both a Bachelor and a Master's degree in Modern Languages, I can tell you that the outrage has much deeper roots.

Imagine this: foreign languages are your lifelong passion, you want to learn as many as possible to travel the world and use them in your job somehow.

You find a fairly accessible app to help you out on your learning journey alongside your other resources, encouraging you (or rather threatening you) with daily reminders, even reminding you that spending 15 minutes spent learning a language is much better than spending 15 minutes scrolling on social media.

The app also has job postings for language professional, and you apply for one of the jobs, without success.

Fast forward a couple of years, and that app turns AI-only, replacing all its contractors. You dodged a bullet, sure, but you cannot be fully relieved: the app that has encouraged you to learn languages has now basically told you that learning languages has no point anymore.

Think about it: if the CEO of Duolingo thinks that AI can replace the language professionals, then he must also think that learning any language whatsoever has no point because all the language-related jobs and actions can be replaced by AI.

The scenario that I mentioned above was my actual story about language learning and Duolingo, and the CEO's position really hurt me to say the least. It was like having another tech bro/STEM bro in my life shitting on my major and my interests, as if some of my relatives were not enough.

Luckily, the tech bro prophecy has not yet come true for me, as I am very much employed with a job related to my major, so at least I only felt upset emotionally, but the rest of my life is okay, unlike for the poor Duolingo workforce.

And I'm sure that I'm not the only one: how many of us have been told that learning a language (especially the most niche ones) is useless, for whatever reason? It's nothing new, really, but getting that message from the founder of a language learning app feels almost like a betrayal.

Besides, most language learners, more or less unknowingly, have often started to learn languages as a hobby or as a major because of another human that inspired them: an English teacher that taught us the basics really well, a polyglot Youtuber that we admired, an interpreter that we met at an event, you name it.

Now, think of that human and imagine that they were some of the contractors that Duolingo wants to replace with AI. You would not just be sad, you'd be pissed off at their knowledge and skills being disrespected this way.

This is another reason why, at this point, Duolingo's CEO Luis Von Ahn has turned into just another STEM bro shitting on people who study anything else: he does not actually respect language professional, unlike language learners. And that's where the clash began, emotionally speaking.

There is also a financial aspect adding to this mess, besides the Duolingo contractors losing their livelihoods: users of the paid premium features also reported that the prices had been increased despite this staff cut, so some of them cancelled their membership completely, asking: Who am I paying, exactly?

Youtuber Marc Insco also pointed out that most of the AI-powered, paid extra features are actually not that groundbreaking - you could easily generate the same results using ChatGPT for free while using the free features of Duolingo on the side.

In addition to this, there are already some language learning apps that have implemented AI chatbots without paywalls.

One of these is Memrise, and while it does have the natural limitations of any chatbot, it's free and it doesn't have significant bugs (not that I have noticed, at least - if you have a different experience let me know!).

If other apps can do it, why can't Duolingo?

So, aside from blatantly disrespecting people who helped creating Duolingo, people are also questioning where their membership money will end up and if it's still worth spending it for basic AI features that can be found for free elsewhere.

Aside from feeling disrespected and boycotting the app, is there any useful takeaway that we can get from this whole story?

Well, first of all, if anything, this is proof that you cannot use AI to do everything. Yes, it can create 150 more courses in a year, but has someone really asked for 150 new Duolingo courses? Not at all. Most Duolingo users would actually love to see some updates on the language courses already available.

Which brings us to the next point: putting your own AI craze before the wellbeing of your staff and the actual needs of your users is not the greatest idea. Research is showing how AI could be destroying our brains just like short-form content on social media. In such a context, turning an educational app AI-only can also raise some eyebrows.

These were the lessons for the businesspeople out there, but what can (former) users learn from this fiasco?

The first lesson is the old-fashioned don't put all your eggs in one basket, i.e. do not rely on a single source for your learning journey, especially if it's an app.

Think about it: apps get updated regularly, and sometimes it's for worse. It doesn't have to be such a huge change as the Duolingo one, but it could be a small change that's relevant enough to frustrate you: maybe it's the interface, maybe a feature got paywalled, maybe the new update is not reacting well with the software of your phone. It doesn't have to be a collective source of frustration, if it frustrates you, then it's a valid reason to delete the app.

The second lesson is: do not over-rely on AI. Sure, it can be helpful with simple tasks like transcribing flashcards, checking your spell and (with the right prompt) planning your study sessions (at least partly), but be aware that it can make mistakes and contradict itself.

So, instead of asking ChatGPT to explain you a grammar concept, or even a cultural concept linked to your target language, maybe google it or search a video explaining it on Youtube.

And before you say "oh, but I'm studying a specific language, there's no way I'll find materials on Youtube", I found videos on Slovenian language, which is only spoken by about 2 million people, I'm sure you can find videos in your target language, too.

And if there aren't any materials, then ChatGPT won't probably be able to explain you the basics of your target language either, because AI generates its answers using available preexisting materials from the Internet.

The final lesson is a concept that has turned into the backbone of my language learning journey, and that is: prioritize presence and intention in your learning.

Now that we have learned that tech bros do not really care about language learners and language professionals, and now that we have proof that AI cannot replace teachers (or human advice whatsoever), we can use this opportunity to ask ourselves:

• am I really understanding what I'm learning?
• Am I on autopilot during my study sessions or am I paying attention to the concepts I have in front of me?
• Have I retained something from my study sessions?
• Am I dedicating the right amount of time to practicing? During this time, am I often distracted or disengaged?

People have mass-deleted Duolingo for these reasons, too. They felt like they were not progressing anyway, so what was the point? Well, now it's the right time to start using methods that actually engage you.

Will it take longer to figure out what works for you? Yes.

Will you need to switch up methods and reset your plans multiple times in order not to get bored? Also yes.

But I guarantee you that it will be worth it. You'll feel your brain pleasantly tickling and you'll think: "fuck Duolingo, I can do this".

Now I want to read your opinion: what do you think of Duolingo's AI-first approach? Have you also deleted the app? What methods are you using instead? Tell us in the comments!