When embracing AI tools, you should be clear to customers and staff about the workplace impact.— Pixabay
When Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn in April announced a dramatic pivot of his popular language learning app to being entirely “AI-first,” it landed the small company in the headlines. Von Ahn’s letter to his staff explained he was conscious that “AI is already changing how work gets done. It’s not a question of if or when. It’s happening now.” He was essentially hoping to get ahead of the trend, and as well as using AI to generate content for the app’s language-learning users, the shift would also mandate the company’s workers “rethink much of how we work” including gradually shifting away from using contractors to do typical duties that AI can now handle.
Von Ahn’s big AI push seemed like a sensible, pragmatic move, at least on paper. But it generated extraordinary pushback from customers. Newspaper the Financial Times gathered together some comments: “Unbelievable,” said one user on LinkedIn, “Cancelling my account NOW,” “Well, there goes my 1,098 day streak,” posted another. But it was more than this. The CEO’s announcement triggered tough questions about the future of work, education, and the direction of the company brand. It also created a self-inflicted public relations crisis for the company, which successfully gamified language learning and developed a loyal customer base. Customers reported cancelling subscriptions in droves.
