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submitted 2 months ago by Pro@programming.dev to c/technology@lemmy.world
  • Following backlash to statements that Duolingo will be AI-first, threatening jobs in the process, CEO Luis von Ahn has tried to walk back his statement.
  • Unfortunately, the CEO doesn’t walk back any of the key points he originally outlined, choosing instead to try, and fail to placate the maddening crowd.
  • Unfortunately the PR team may soon be replaced by AI as this latest statement has done anything but instil confidence in the firm’s users.
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[-] echodot@feddit.uk 38 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

How do these people become CEOs they're as thick as several short planks nailed together.

Firstly every single company that has tried to replace its employees with AI has always ended up having issues. Secondly even if that wasn't the case, people are not going to be happy about it so it's not something you should brag publicly about.

If you're going to replace all of your employees with AI just do it quietly, that way if it fails it's not a public failure, and if it succeeds (it won't) then you talk about it.

[-] ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml 27 points 2 months ago

How do these people become CEOs they’re as thick as several short planks nailed together.

Being a CEO has absolutely nothing to do with intelligence, I guarantee you that Duolingo has employees who are far more intelligent than the CEO.

[-] nandeEbisu@lemmy.world 14 points 2 months ago

People who are smart in one or two domains often overestimate how smart they are in other domains. They develop a mental model, confirm it quickly, and never re-asses it.

The issue with AI, is we're probably hitting our first real S curve with the current technology's performance but a lot of people who bet big are only see the exponential part and assuming there won't be a level off, or that the level of is far away.

There is no Moore's law for AI.

[-] ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago

If they do it quietly, they won't get the stock price bump every company gets from saying they're going to replace (costly) employees with AI.

[-] sturger@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 months ago

People keep forgetting that these companies’s product is stock price, not whatever they’re advertising at any given moment.
The “CEOs” have gotten sloppy because the grift has gotten so easy they assume everyone is in on it. They assume there’s no need to hide the grift.

this post was submitted on 26 May 2025
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