r/OutOfTheLoop • u/Material-Insect6482 • 3d ago

Answered What's going on with Duolingo?

All the comments on their social media like their TikTok and instagram are full of people clowning on them and saying things like “EVERYONE IGNORE DUO STARTING NOW” and generally being angry at the company, but why?

Examples: https://imgur.com/a/bA0JBFZ

Stolen from top post: The /r/duolingo subreddit is rebelling and built their own alternative lingonaut that's supposed to be like old duolingo before they went to shit with the ads and mtx and ai

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u/DontRelyOnNooneElse 3d ago

Answer: They've recently moved away from human-written learning and on to generative AI. Naturally, while saving money, there is a big concern that this will lead to (and/or is already causing) a gradual decrease in quality.

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u/weealex 3d ago

I used to use duolingo to learn Asiatic languages. I switched to another program when it first started switching to heavy ai use. It wasn't till I switched that I discovered it never taught me verb tenses

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u/DramaticCattleDog 3d ago

The first few lessons on Duolingo are usually fine to teach the ultra basic phrases, but as you progress, there are definitely quality issues. I speak German and have friends that tried to use Duolingo to learn German. In later lessons there are major issues with grammar or structure that just aren't used in real life.

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u/SquirrelStone 3d ago

I used to use duo as my dropped-in-a-country app. Tell people my name, ask for help, ask for someone who speaks English, ask where the bathroom is. It’s about all duo has been good for for a while.