Duolingo, of ulular of the beautiful not to say or pyo in social networks: this is the reason for his silence

Duolingoone of the most active brands on social networks, where his pet, the celebrated Duo owl, has always ululate the beautiful in the 2.0 platforms, has suddenly fallen in which it has always been its natural habitat. During the past weekend the famous platform to learn languages ​​decided to eliminate all posts in their English profiles in Tiktok and Instagram. In Duolingo’s accounts in different languages ​​of English the good of Duo follows, however, as Parlanchín as ever.

For approximately three weeks Duolingo Brega with a copious torrent of criticism on the 2.0 platforms that would apparently explain his sudden mutism. And the reason is none other than his firm determination to mutate in a company «Ai-Fircst» (Something that has sat down to many). At the end of April Duolingo shared on LinkedIn an email referred to the squad for its CEO Luis von Ahn. In that email, the head of Duolingo announced that the company “would stop using subcontracting employees to assume tasks that could be executed by AI.” And also gave an account of the company’s intention to use AI in the recruitment of personnel and in the evaluation of workers’ performance.

The AI, the culprit of the descent to Duolingo’s hell

Even when everything indicates that Duolingo’s silence would have been propitiated by the fierce critical emanated from its controversial metamorphosis in a company «Ai-First», a spokesman for the company consulted by AdAge He prefers not to confirm or deny this extreme. «Let’s say we are experiencing with silence. Sometimes the best way to make noise is to disappear in the first place »points the Duolingo spokesman.

Duolingo’s mutism on social networks has been, however, of a fleeting nature. During the afternoon of Tuesday the company uploaded a new video to its English language profiles in Instagram and in Tiktok in which a member of the Duolingo social media team took the floor (with his face conveniently hidden behind a Duo mask and using a modulator to distort the voice) to read the card to the company’s board of directors for annihilating all its efforts on platforms 2.0 with its commitment to AI. The protagonist’s speech is, however, interrupted and in the end the video merges black (perhaps on the orders of those above).

@duolingo

DUOLINGO WAS NEVER FUNNY. WE WERE.

? original sound – Duolingo

«We teach the green bird [en referencia a Duo] to do ‘twerking’. We put it on the map, just for the elite to come to ruin everything », The protagonist of the video says (in a clear allusion to the controversial email of the CEO of Duolingo). «Everything collapsed with a single publication on AI, apostille.

Since last April 28 Duolingo will announce to hype and saucer His decision to bet big for AI (even when he implies dispensing with people of flesh and blood), Thousands of users of the social learning platform have taken social networks to lament the company’s turn and its intention to mutate in a company «Ai-First». Many users have condemned vehement that the duolingo will replace people of flesh and blood with AI, although the company’s CEO has insisted at all times that the platform to learn languages ​​will continue to take care of its employees (no matter how much the shadow of possible dismissals is currently loom over them).

Duolingo has lost thousands of “followers” in Tiktok

Where Duolingo’s reputation has been bleak to a greater extent has been in Tiktok, where the platform has lost more than 400,000 followers during the last three weeksaccording to Hypeauditor data. Although this figure is only a very small fraction of the 16.7 million followers that Duolingo still has its Vera in Tiktok, the most critical users with the company interpreted as a victory that the platform for learning languages ​​would make the determination last Saturday to erase all its posts in social networks (although everything points to this action actually obeys a perfectly orchestrated marketing action where little or nothing It has left the Albur).

Duolingo also surprised approximately three months, he also surprised his own and strangers killing and later resurrectedits charismatic pet (and the person responsible for the raptor popularity of the brand on social networks).

Since erase all posts in Tiktok and Instagram, Duolingo has changed the description of his “bio” on both platforms several times. Initially, the description in the “bio” of Duolingo in Tiktok became “real eyes real lies” (a phrase used very commonly in all types of “memes”) and subsequently mentioned the subnet “r/IM14andthisdeEp.” Currently “It Begins Now” is the enigmatic phrase that can be read in the “Bio” of the Duolingo account in English in Tiktok. Beyond changing your “bio”, Duolingo has also introduced modifications in its profile image on social networkswhere an image of Duo with three eyes is visible (the same one that currently appears on the APP icon of the platform to learn languages).

Will Duolingo get the flight on social networks?

Last Sunday, a baptized account with the name of @duolingo.is.back which began to publish content generated with the in which Owl Duo monopolized all the spotlights and that many users initially believed that it had been created by Duolingo. However, the company’s spokesman consulted by Duolingo says that this account is not official.

The omnipresence of AI on social networks has turned on the wick of a heated debate about the convenience of overlapping or not this technology in the content that makes its way on these platforms. And there does not seem to be a unanimous opinion in this regard, since its use seems to present advantages and inconveniences almost equally. A meta a few months ago he was forced, for example, to withdraw on Facebook and Instagram several accounts of characters generated with AI after these suffered a flood of criticism in X.

However, The use of AI on social networks is also reporting multiple joys to brands. Last month, without going any further, hundreds of brands filled their profiles in the social networks of images created with GPT-4o that pretended to be action figures and that were anointed in many cases with virality.

«There is still a real concern for the fact that AI simply replaces things that were previously executed by people of flesh and blood. But aWhat brands that rely on AI to illuminate things that would otherwise be impossible or they would take long time they are really in a position to fascinate their target audience«, Says Brendan Kiernan, responsible for Narrative, the subsidiary focused on the social networks of the We are social agency.