Duolingo's CEO outlined his plan to become an ‘AI-first' company. He didn't expect the human backlash that followed
The response was swift and scathing. 'This is a disaster. I will cancel my subscription,' wrote one commenter. 'AI first means people last,' wrote another. And a third summed up the general feeling of critics when they wrote: 'I can't support a company that replaces humans with AI.'
A week later, von Ahn walked back his initial statements, clarifying that he does not 'see AI replacing what our employees do' but instead views it as a 'tool to accelerate what we do, at the same or better level of quality.'
In a new interview, von Ahn says that he was shocked by the backlash he received. 'I did not expect the amount of blowback,' he recently told the Financial Times. While he says he should have been more clear about his AI goals, he also feels that the negativity stems from a general fear that AI will replace workers. 'Every tech company is doing similar things, [but] we were open about it,' he said.
Von Ahn, however, isn't alone. Other CEOs have also been forthright about how their AI aspirations will affect their human workforce. The CEO of Klarna, for example, said in August of last year that the company had cut hundreds of jobs thanks to AI. Last month, he added that the new tech had helped the company shrink its workforce by 40%.
Anxiety for workers around the potential that they will be replaced by AI, however, is high. Around 40% of workers familiar with ChatGPT in 2023 were worried that the technology would replace them, according to a Harris poll done on behalf of Fortune. And a Pew study from earlier this year found that around 32% of workers fear AI will lead to fewer opportunities for them. Another 52% were worried about how AI could potentially impact the workplace in the future.
The leaders of AI companies themselves aren't necessarily offering words of comfort to these worried workers. The Anthropic CEO, Dario Amodei, told Axios last month that AI could eliminate approximately half of all entry-level jobs within the next five years. He argued that there's no turning back now.
'It sounds crazy, and people just don't believe it,' he said. 'We, as the producers of this technology, have a duty and an obligation to be honest about what is coming.'
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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Android Authority
19 minutes ago
- Android Authority
The Narwal Flow is the closest I've seen a robot vacuum get to being perfect
Narwal Flow If you're considering a robot vacuum purchase purely based on its ability to leave floors of all types as clean as possible, the Narwal Flow is the best bot you can get. AI-powered navigation, EdgeReach Technology, and anti-tangle brushes clean carpets and hard floors all the way to the edges and into the corners with zero fuss. The multi-function base station, with self-cleaning and drying functions, also makes it a breeze to use. Today, I looked at my floor and noticed it looked exceptionally good. I have been reviewing the very best robot vacuums for quite some time now, so they are constantly running in my home. What bot made me take notice? That would be the Narwal Flow. Not only does the floor look great, but the edges and corners are super clean, and my rugs are clean and have not moved from where I placed them. A number of vacuums can accomplish all of these things, but this is the first time they have all happened at the same time. And after testing it for a month, running it for well over 1,000 hours and 7,500 sqft of floor cleaning tasks, I'm pretty happy to declare that this is one of the best robot vacuums you can buy. What's the Narwal Flow all about? Paul Jones / Android Authority Back at CES 2025 we awarded the Narwal Flow a CES 2025 Breakthrough award for its various innovations. The multi-function base station, and the new FlowWash System with EdgeReach Technology were top factors in that decision. It was obvious from those early demos that this was going to be the bot to beat for floor mopping in 2025, so I'm super pleased to have now had the bot in-house for live testing. Traditionally, Narwal deploys dual spinning mop pads on its bots. With the Narwal Flow, the FlowWash Mopping System is an elongated roller system. This creates a full-width flat surface that can polish a lot of surfaces at once. The Flow also adds EdgeReach, which allows the roller to push out to the side so that the bot can clean completely to the edge of your room and into corners. Jonathan Feist / Android Authority The Flow is equipped with familiar folding front brushes and a zero-tangling main roller, powered by 20,000 Pa of suction pressure for all of your vacuuming needs. Though Narwal has been a leader in terms of mapping and navigation in the past, the Flow steps that up, too. Combining powerful AI computing in their Twin-AI Dodge with the reliability of 3D modeling from LiDAR sensors, the Flow navigates my home better than any Narwal bot before it. Plus, the LiDAR sensor is now situated in the rear casing, making this one of the shortest Narwal bots as well, perfect for getting under furniture. Jonathan Feist / Android Authority The 8-in-1 multi-function base station houses clean and dirty water canisters, a large dry debris collection bag, and an assortment of self-cleaning and automation features. These features promise many weeks of maintenance-free and stress-free operation. Many promises, but how does the Narwal Flow stack up in the real world? Jonathan Feist / Android Authority Let's start with the basics. The Flow is proving to be a very reliable vacuum, and that all starts with mapping and navigation. After setup, the Flow mapped my floors just as well as previous Narwal units did, and it continues to navigate with precision. It accurately identifies cords, shoes, furniture, and carpets that it should avoid running over. This includes my extra-thick bath mats that I always talk about; the Flow is the first bot to identify the mats as being too tall for it, avoiding them instead of getting stuck on them. Jonathan Feist / Android Authority Narwal vacuum suction systems were enough to pick up metal marbles, Lego, and other heavy debris back when the bots were around 8,000 Pa; now that the Flow offers 20,000 Pa, picking up debris and pulling things out of deeper carpets is better than ever. The Flow successfully gets those pesky pine needles from all the cracks and crevices. Edge-to-edge, there are few bots as thorough as the Narwal Flow The navigation and reach systems effectively clean the edges and corners of the room. These systems also ensure coverage around furniture legs, which is great. The Narwal Flow continues the tradition of Narwal bots successfully cleaning all the way under my kitchen table, navigating the chair legs and other obstacles. It helps that the bot is shorter than most, so it has no issue at all getting under the low bars and my other low furniture. Jonathan Feist / Android Authority Dry debris is cleanly pulled from the bot after each session, storing the dust and leaves in the 2.5L vacuum bag in the base station. That multi-function base station also does a great job at cleaning the mop pad, using heat and air. For my wood floors, this is the best clean I've seen from any robot vacuum to date. In terms of mopping, the roller pad presses into the floor with 12N of downward force to buff away any dirt and grime that might have still existed on my floors. My hardwoods and tile are looking fantastic. The cleaning solution that Narwal creates has always worked well with my floors, which might change your results, but this is, without question, the best result from a Narwal bot that I've seen to date, and, in fact, the best I've seen from any robot vacuum, period. Jonathan Feist / Android Authority Sadly, the base station does not have automatic detergent addition. You have to manually add the solution to the clean water canister each time you fill it. Speaking of, I'm having to refill the bucket (and empty and clean the used water bucket) for every 900 sqft of mopping. That's just over two full cleanings of my space. Of course, the Flow has plenty of AI smarts baked in, too. I've been using the Freo Mind mode, which has been adjusting the cleaning strategy as it goes. The bot spends more or less time in certain areas based on previous cleaning needs, and may change up its flow, starting in one room or another, or cleaning edges first, then the middle. Narwal is still using its DirtSense technology, which very accurately detects the cleanliness of the water coming off the mop roller. The system overall knows how clean or dirty your space is by tracking the cleanliness of the roller at the time of cleaning in the base station. If the roller is too dirty, then the bot may go back out to clean again. Jonathan Feist / Android Authority What matters most to me is that I cannot see any spots on my floor that the Flow has missed, and I do not have to go around after it to put things back in place that it's run into or pushed around. Most modern high-end robot vacuums are really good at navigation, but the Narwal Flow stands out for precision. In terms of navigation, the absolute only thing I've seen that the Flow could improve on is how it handles closed doors. If the bot knows there's a room behind that door, it's a little pushy at trying to get in there. It does not run into the door if it's completely closed, but if the door is just barely open, the Flow may try to push in. That was a startling experience when I was in the shower once, but it was worth the laugh. Narwal Flow specifications Narwal Flow Expand Robot Dimensions: 368 x 330 x 95 mm Functions ✔ Sweeps ✔ Vacuums ✔ Mops Expand Narwal Flow review verdict: Is it worth it? Jonathan Feist / Android Authority At $1,499 MSRP, the Flow is definitely on the premium end of robot vacuum cleaners, but if I had the cash, I'd buy one as a gift for all of my family and friends. In particular, I know someone with three big dogs who is struggling to keep their floors clean. The Narwal Flow is the first bot I think can keep up with those slobbery beasts and their shedding hair. For the overall cleaning experience, I am reminded of the Narwal Freo Z Ultra ($1499.99 at Amazon) and the Roborock Saros 10R ($1599.99 at Amazon). The Freo Z Ultra is from an older generation of Narwal bots, which helped pave the way for what we get today. It included superb, LiDAR-driven mapping and navigation, and also produced a very pleasant polished clean on my hard floors. Automation and AI-smarts made the Freo Z Ultra a fantastic choice, but it only has 12,000 Pa of suction pressure, and the LiDAR turret on top made it fairly tall. The Narwal Flow feels better to me in almost every way. The Flow is a no-fuss floor cleaner with great navigation. The next best option in its price tier is the Roborock Saros 10R, which excels at navigation, even if the Narwal has it beat in terms of mopping. If you really want to have fun, the Saros Z70 ($2599 at Amazon) is also available, but most people won't want to pay an extra $1,000 for that bot's party trick: a robotic arm. If you want something below the $1,000 price threshold, the Eureka J15 Pro Ultra ($799.99 at Amazon) is also a great choice. Jonathan Feist / Android Authority I try not to get attached to review units I get sent to test, but I'm going to be sad when this bot moves on. That's about the best recommendation I think I can give. Narwal Flow Reliable, powerful vacuuming • Great mopping capabilities • Great hair anti-tangle • Precision navigation MSRP: $1,499.99 Narwal's best in 2025 is a superb floor cleaner The Narwal Flow is a robot vacuum with powerful mopping tools for a full-home clean. The tank-tread style mop roller has EdgeReach Technology to clean from edge-to-edge in your home, including into the corners and around tight furniture legs. With 22,000 Pa of suction pressure, 12N of mopping force, and AI-driven navigation, the Flow lacks for little. See price at NarwalSee price at Amazon Positives Reliable, powerful vacuuming Reliable, powerful vacuuming Great mopping capabilities Great mopping capabilities Impressive hair anti-tangle rollers Impressive hair anti-tangle rollers Precision navigation Precision navigation Reliable mapping and navigation Reliable mapping and navigation Self-cleaning and drying multi-function base station Cons Consume water very quickly Consume water very quickly Doesn't play nicely with doors sometimes Follow
Business Insider
an hour ago
- Business Insider
Meet your new office bestie: ChatGPT
Deborah has fast become one of Nicole Ramirez's favorite colleagues. She's quick to deliver compliments, sharp-witted, and hyper-efficient. Perhaps best of all, there's no internal competition with Deborah at the health marketing agency they work for, because she isn't on the payroll. She isn't even human. Ramirez, a 34-year-old who lives in the Pittsburgh area, says she randomly chose the name Deborah as a way to refer to the generative AI app ChatGPT, which she began using about a year ago to help her with basic tasks like drafting emails. As time went on, she asked Deborah to do more complex work, such as market research and analysis, and found herself typing "thank you" after the results came back. Eventually the relationship got to the point where the app became akin to a coworker who's always willing to give feedback — or listen to her gripes about real-life clients and colleagues. And so the bot became a bud. "Those are things that you would usually turn to your work bestie over lunch about when you can go to ChatGPT — or Deborah, in my case," says Ramirez. People are treating AI chatbots as more than just 24/7 therapists and loyal companions. With the tools becoming ubiquitous in the workplace, some are regarding them as model colleagues, too. Unlike teammates with a pulse, chatbots are never snotty, grumpy, or off the clock. They don't eat leftover salmon at their desks or give you the stink eye. They don't go on a tangent about their kids or talk politics when you ask to schedule a meeting. And they won't be insulted if you reject their suggestions. For many, tapping AI chatbots in lieu of their human colleagues has deep appeal. Consider that nearly one-third of US workers would rather clean a toilet than ask a colleague for help, according to a recent survey from the Center for Generational Kinetics, a thought-leadership firm, and commissioned by workplace-leadership strategist Henna Pryor. Experts warn, though, that too much bot bonding could dull social and critical-thinking skills, hurting careers and company performance. In the past two years, the portion of US employees who say they have used Gen AI in their role a few times a year or more nearly doubled to 40% from 21%, according to a Gallup report released in June. Part of what accounts for that rapid ascendance is how much Gen AI reflects our humanity, as Stanford University lecturer Martin Gonzalez concluded in a 2024 research paper. "Instead of a science-fiction-like ball of pulsing light, we encounter human quirks: poems recited in a pirate's voice, the cringeworthy humor of dad jokes," wrote Gonzalez, who's now an executive at Google's AI research lab DeepMind. One sign that people see AI agents as lifelike is in how they politely communicate with the tools by using phrases like "please" or "thank you," says Connie Noonan Hadley, an organizational psychologist and professor at Boston University's Questrom School of Business. "So far, people are keeping up with basic social niceties," she says. "AI tends to give you compliments, too, so there are some social skills still being maintained." Human colleagues, on the other hand, aren't always as well-mannered. Monica Park, a graphic designer for a jeweler in New York, used to dread showing early mock-ups of her work to colleagues. She recalls the heartache she felt after a coworker at a previous employer angrily responded to a draft of a design she'd drawn with an F-bomb. "You never know if it's a good time to ask for feedback," Park, 32, tells me. "So much of it has to do with the mood of the person looking at it." Last year she became a regular ChatGPT user and says that while the app will also dish out criticism, it's only the constructive kind. "It's not saying it in a malicious or judgmental way," Park says. "ChatGPT doesn't have any skin in the game." Aaron Ansari, an information-security consultant, counts Anthropic's AI chatbot Claude among his top peers. The 46-year-old Orlando-area resident likes that he can ask it to revise a document as many times as he wants without being expected to give anything in return. By contrast, a colleague at a previous job would pressure him to buy Girl Scout cookies from her kids whenever he stopped by her desk. "It became her reputation," Ansari says. "You can't go to 'Susie' without money." Now a managing partner at a different consulting firm, he finds himself opening Claude before pinging colleagues for support. This way, he can avoid ruffling any feathers, like when he once attempted to reach a colleague in a different time zone at what turned out to be an inconvenient hour. "You call and catch them in the kitchen," says Ansari. "I have interrupted their lunch unintentionally, but they certainly let me know." AI's appeal can be so strong that workers are at risk of developing unhealthy attachments to chatbots, research shows. " Your Brain on ChatGPT," a study published in June from researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, found that the convenience that AI agents provide can weaken people's critical-thinking skills and foster procrastination and laziness. "Like junk food, it's efficient when you need it, but too much over time can give you relational diabetes," says Laura Greve, a clinical health psychologist in Boston. "You're starved of the nutrients you need, the real human connection." And if workers at large overindulge in AI, we could all end up becoming "emotionally unintelligent oafs," she warns. "We're accidentally training an entire generation to be workplace hermits." In turn, Hadley adds, businesses that rely on collaboration could suffer. "The more workers turn to AI instead of other people, the greater the chance the social fabric that weaves us together will weaken," she says. Karen Loftis, a senior product manager in a Milwaukee suburb, recently left a job at a large tech company that's gone all-in on AI. She said before ChatGPT showed up, sales reps would call her daily for guidance on how to plug the company's latest products. That's when they'd learn about her passion for seeing musicians like Peter Frampton in concert. But when she saw the singer-songwriter perform earlier this year, it was "like a non-event," she said, because those calls almost entirely stopped coming in. "With AI, it's all work and no relationships," she said. Workers who lean heavily on AI may also be judged differently by their peers than their bosses. Colleagues are more inclined to see them as dependent on the technology, less creative, and lacking growth potential, says David De Cremer, a behavioral scientist and Dunton Family Dean of Northeastern University's D'Amore-McKim School of Business. "It's objectification by association," he says. Company leaders, however, are more likely to view workers who demonstrate AI chops as assets. Big-company CEOs such as Amazon's Andy Jassy and Shopify's Tobi Lütke have credited the technology for boosting productivity and cost savings. Workers who spoke with BI about using chatbots — including those who work remotely — say they still interact with their human peers, but less often as they did before AI agents came along. Lucas Figueiredo, who lives near Atlanta and works at a revenue management specialist for an airline, says he previously struggled to tell whether the AirPods a former colleague constantly wore were playing music whenever he wanted to ask this person a coding question. "You don't want to spook someone or disrupt their workflow," the 27-year-old tells me, though he admits he has done just that. These days, if Figueiredo gets stuck, he will first go to Microsoft's Copilot before approaching a colleague for an assist. The new strategy has been paying off.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
TikTok Adds AI Avatar Stickers, Expanding its AI Toolset
This story was originally published on Social Media Today. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Social Media Today newsletter. TikTok's added a new AI-generated sticker option, which enables you to combine your avatar with an emoji to come up with unique combinations. As you can see in this example, posted by Jonah Manzano, the new option enables you to combine your avatar, which you can also create in the app, with a selection of emojis. You can then use that combined sticker in the app: Which is an interesting application within TikTok's broader integration of AI tools, and with parent company ByteDance investing billions into AI development, you can bet that more and more AI options will be coming to the app very soon. As they are in all apps, but TikTok's plans on this front are less known, because it's primarily focused on China, and building AI tools for the local version of the app, called Douyin. But if you ever want to get an idea of where TikTok is headed, you can look to Douyin. The app reportedly has over 766 million active users, and has become a key social and entertainment platform among Chinese users. And in terms of AI features, that TikTok doesn't have (at least not to the same degree) Douyin has the following: The app composer now includes various AI editing tools, including creative effects, image generation, and more. It also has a text-to-video tool, which enables the creation of short clips in-stream (it also has a separate app called 'Jimeng' for this) There are also various AI assistants in the app, with the latest addition being a chatbot that connects to ByteDance's ChatGPT-like Doubao There's also a Yelp-like AI assistant that recommends restaurants and provides food reviews These are some of the AI elements that are not available on TikTok as yet, which shines a light on the options that could be coming to TikTok soon, building out its AI capacity. In addition, Douyin's also developing improved live-stream avatars which are designed to mimic creators' personalities and habits. TikTok has a form of AI avatars already, but this new wave of AI bots will be more customized and aligned to each creator, enabling influencers to stream to their audience 24/7, Douyin says. At the same time, Douyin is also much more focused on shopping, and has become a leading player in Chinese eCommerce. It's also expanded into food delivery, which is another area that TikTok may look to as it seeks to build out its own shopping elements. On that front, Douyin recently began testing 'Douyin Hourly Delivery,' which will use location services to ensure rapid deliveries to consumers. So, again, this gives you some idea of the AI integrations that are likely coming to TikTok, and the other avenues that it could take to drive more AI usage, while also building out its existing functionality. So on a broader scale, AI-generated emoji stickers are only a small thing, but they add another tool to the platform's expanding AI capacity, which is set to become even more significant over time. Which also means more AI slop, but that's probably inevitable either way. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
