Looks like the AI-first strategy is really working out for them

Did not know they were liste on the stock market - I guesa that explains why they turned to shit.

But anyway, the title makes it seem like the drop was because they lost users or smth ( or due to the AI-first bullshit ) but no, they grew and their revenue grew, it just didn't grow enough. Line did not go up as high as the investors wanted so they lost faith. Man, fuck this system

Cancelled my sub last year when they announced they were going to make their service worse by doing it with chatbots

Just unsubscribed from duo, after a 1500 day streak, and 8 years being a paid member

Sent them this email

Just reaching out to let you know why, after years of subscription and a 1500 day streak, why I finally intentionally broke my streak and unsubscribed

I joined early on, like 10+ years ago, and loved the weirdness of early Duolingo to learn Spanish, I ame and went, but always spread the gospel

But over the last 3-4 years, duo has been showing the enshitifcation more and more. Going from a fun system to this entierly linear system, changes to the unpaid energy system, removal of comments and the forum

Then, recently, pushing Duolingo max, removing practice for a max button, a service I don't have, ever increasing of AI slop, removal of paid volenteers.

I really loved duo, but hate to see it in this sad state. I loved learning a second language, and would continue to pay for it, but it's clear you no longer view your self as a language platform, but just a way to make a quick buck

Duo would cry if he could.

(PSA you can patch the app with revanced and just use an old version of the app pre-ai with no ads)

When it stops working I'll figure out something else to use but language learning has been a background thing with my friend who knows the language better, so I don't really wanna sit down and try out new stuff for the moment