Imagine You’re the CEO of A Midsize to Large Consumer Tech Company. You announce that you’re going all in on it – you are launching it features in your products, or maybe you’re teling your employs they need to start using it at their jobs more. Your investors love it. Your Fellow CEOS Applaud You. Thought Leaders in Silicon Valley Hail You. Wall Street Loves; Your Share Price Spikes.
But your customers? Theyaaaaaaaate it.
You get destroyed on social media. People Delete Your App or Vow to Boycott Your Company.
You, Imaginary CEO, Wold Not Be Alone. Quite a few companies recently have dealt with this kind of blowback after announcing plans for it.
Duolingo is in the middle of this bondoggle. The Language App’s CEO, Luis von Ahn, Posted A Memo on Linkedin Last Month Describing plans to make the company “AI-FIRST.” He Said the Company Wold “Gradually Stop Using Contractors to Do Work That He Can Handle” and “Headcount Will Only Be If A Team Cannot More of their Work.”
On a recent podcast appeararance, von ahn dowled down on his environmental vision for artificial intelligence, saying that in the futures, schools would exist mostly for childcare, while he would perform the actual instruction. (One Guaranteed Formula to Get Wrecked Online is to Disrespect Teachers or Nurses.)
The backlash was Harsh. Tweets, tiktox, and reddit posts exploded in Outrage. Duolingo has cultivated a Big Social Presence with meme-loving owl mascot, so the company was a prime target. One tiktok Creator implored their fans not to allow duolyingo to return from being.
As of Tuesday, Duolingo’s Social Accounts Had Been Wiped – No Posts, No Icon. Duolingo Did Not Respond to A Request for Comment.
The idea that Employees Should Learn to use he is basically gospel now. Business Leaders see that it is the futures and don’t want to be left bend. But there are the differences in degree. Shopify, Too, Received Some Blowback AFTER ATNOMCED A Policy of Mandatory He Fluency and Said Teams Could Hire New Humans Only if they proved he is the jab instead.
There are other ways that he has druwn a backlash. Recently, SoundCloud Added A Clause About He Training to it Terms of Service, to the Ire of Many Artists and Listeners.
Audible Recently Announched It Waould Offer He Narration for audiobooks. Be posted on threads that thiught this isable (there are plants of times I’ve wanted to read an Older book is available only in print and wished it has been audio version), I absolutely ratioed into the heavens by people who! at the idea of replaceing human voice actors with subpar he bots. Several People Told with they were planning to cancel their audible subscripts over this.
The Main Issues People have with he are Simple. The models were generaly trained on songs, books, and art that we used with the owners’ conssent. He threatens to replace human jobs. There’s an environmental impact from the energy used to power he. These are all Simply Facts. WORTS OF ALL, ITS OFTEN JUST NOT Very Good at what it is supposed to do. There’s a reason it’a Called “he slop” and not “he amazing, cool art.”
It would be a mistake to wave off the anti-Ai brigade as a bunch of luddites or purists. Their Concerns are legitimate. And for Tech Companies Who Are Pushing This – The Brigade Includes Customers. These are People Who Are Happy UPPily Using iPhones and Apps like Duolingo to Learn a Second Language, or Pay for Audiobooks, or List to Streaming Music.
This is the tension: How do you, imaginary tech CEO, Continue to impress your investors with how your company is at the Bleeding EDGE of AI Adoption, while avoid getting shredded by your customers on social media?
I Asked Adam Brotman, The Ceo of Forum3, A Consulting Firm that Advises Brands on How to Adopt he, and a coauthor of “he first: the playbook for a futures-proof business and brand.”
“Unlike Previous Tech Shifts, General he brings unique challenges,” Brotman Said. “While these leaked memos are coming from an authentic passion around what this tech can do to drive productivity and innovation, in my opinion, the most passionate need to communicate a balanced apprroach in these; emphasking ‘resonystble’ he and how Rather say replaces say.
It’s not an impossible Balance ACT. I Suggest a Reasonable Solution, Which is: Don’t Shout About it. There’s a middle path, where your company can go forward with he tools with publishing a memo about that that states someone (unrealistic in practice) rules about hiing Because of he.
Duolingo Made People Mad Not Because Some of It Its Engineers Are Using it for Coding But Because the Ceo Made a Grandiose Staffing It – The Kind that isn’t Going to Go Over Well. This is a messaging problem. The Kind that A Friendly, Human, Comms Person Could Solve.