On April 28th 2025, the 22.45 billion dollar language learning company ‘Duolingo’ announced that they would be firing 10% of their contracted workers and replacing it with AI.
The green bird that was once loved for its iconic internet presence is now being chastised through tik tok comment sections. It might seem insignificant, but this sets a standard that audiences do not want AI.
The use of AI in profitable organizations of any scale lacks effort, disengages audiences, and leads to unemployment in uniquely human jobs.
Did you know that 3 million Americans make a living through Art, communications, technology, writing, etc? That’s an $800 Million dollar economic impact.
How would you feel if you spent $100,000 and four years of your life on a degree for a career you’re passionate about, only to find that your job market is suffering due to AI.
According to a Tech Crunch Article by Anthony Ha, Employment rates for college educated adults are astronomically high.
“Companies might be replacing entry-level white-collar jobs with AI,” Ha said. “Or their spending on AI might simply be ‘crowding out’ the spending for new hires.”
DECA President, Kylee McMurray participated in a competitive group project against two other teams, both of which used AI to create ads.
“AI has become more prevalent in marketing and advertising schemes, which is what I plan to go into. “ McMurray said.
“AI also can have positive influences, but its Main draw is that it’s cheap and a quick answer,” McMurray said. “I believe that it’s taking jobs for many people and that it can be used in a positive way however, at this moment, we are not sure how to handle it.”
A common defense for the use of AI is because it’s more cost effective. AI is technically capable of writing anything with a prompt, and it works at a way faster pace than humans.
I think that this angle is counter-intuitive, due to the lack of public approval. It’s not uncommon to hear of boycotts over a company’s lack of respect for their customers.
A vast majority of people value the authenticity of human work. To replace human creation with programming is insulting.
A popular social media influencer known by the name Funky Frog Bait is well known for their commentary on topics relevant to the average Gen Z internet user. They discuss AI in their recent video titled “I’m TIRED of AI“
“I’m three plates of nachos deep when… an ad for Chat GPT shows off the greatest achievements of mankind succeeding, despite the ravages of war, famine, and disease,” Funky Frog bait said. “Before announcing the advent of a new age where apparently I can’t do anything for myself.”
CEO’s announcing their sudden switch to robot workers has proven time and time again that the general society doesn’t respond well to these budget cuts.
From Self Checkouts to AI generated twitter posts, there are obvious and inconvenient differences between a real human and auto generated, frankensteined, profit protectors.
Shortcuts like this are frowned upon in classrooms. An unproportionate amount of current High School students struggle to even write a simple essay without using AI to completely write it for them.
English Teacher, Sarah Delong mentions her disdain for the extensive precautions she has to take to keep students from submitting AI written work.
“In school and education, i think there are skills that underly what students do when they write papers,” Delong said. “I dont think that students connect the idea that not being able to do those skills has a negative impact on their future.”
This clear and crucial crisis among our peers is sure to lead to fundamental skills and art forms being completely lost to incompetence.
“Its not always going to be about writing a paper, it’s about critical thinking skills” Delong said.
You might think that there’s nothing you can do to prevent AI, but your words have power over company executives. There are tons of hashtags and charities you can encourage to fellow social media users. Make it known that you aren’t fooled by cheap human imitation.
Relevant Organizations:
Animated Workers Ignited
Artists Against AI
#SupportHumanArtists
