'No value for money' say furious Duolingo fans who vow to cancel the app due to 'greed'

SUPER Duolingo subscribers are frustrated with the app's latest changes.

In a recent post on Reddit, Duolingo users expressed their dissatisfaction with the app.

The thread started with a user saying he hadn't signed up for AI interpreters.

“I have been a Duolingo customer for many years, have a streak of 984 days and was in the top 1% of students for 2023,” says the wire is reading.

“I am disappointed to hear that Duolingo plans to lay off human interpreters and other employees and rely on AI-powered translations,” she added.

“I'm going to cancel my Super Duolingo subscription,” they concluded, before sharing an article for reference.

Earlier this month, Duolingo cut 10% of its contractors in an effort to expand its use of AI Bloomberg Law.

Duolingo said AI will increasingly be used to perform tasks such as generating sentences for courses, producing lists of acceptable translations and reviewing user error reports.

The company added that no full-time employees were involved in the layoffs.

“Generative AI accelerates our work by helping us create new content dramatically faster,” CEO Luis von Ahn wrote in November letter from the shareholders.

Another point of contention for Duolingo users was the app's removal of discussion boards.

“I paid for two years, but never more. Getting rid of the user discussions for the exercises was the last straw for me,” said one Reddit user.

“I've used Duo on and off for years and recently got the super and was sad to see the discussion boards gone,” another commented.

Duolingo's discussion boards were an online platform where native speakers and learners could exchange language tips, converse, and discuss resources.

The removal of the signs took effect on March 22, 2022, and Duolingo seemingly did not explain its decision.

However, at one interview in August 2022, Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn said the company wanted to simplify Duolingo and its user interface.

Still, many users found that without the forums the app is “useless” and makes learning a new language more difficult.

Duolingo launched its platform to the general public on June 19, 2012 and has remained completely free.

However, users have the option to upgrade to Super Duolingo for a cost of approximately $7 per month.

Most recently, the company announced a new tier called Duolingo Max, which costs $168 per year (or $30 if you pay monthly).