Resistance against AI shows a notch, these customers launch a radical boycott
Karen Crow is a Pittsburgh artist. Faithful of Duolingo for 581 days in a row and audible for ten years, the woman terminated her two subscriptions last month. For what ? Duolingo replaces certain contract workers with AI and Audible added narration options by AI instead of human voices.
The boycott against AI is launched by Internet users
“I was very faithful and spent a lot of money” For these services, deplores Karen Crow. The artist is concerned about the environmental impact and the replacement of human creativity. His goal: “If enough people leave, I hope they will rethink this.”
On Reddit, YouTube, Threads or Tiktok, many Internet users deplore the way in which AI is imposed. Many threaten to cancel their subscriptions and worry about human employees.
Kayla Ellsworth, 21 -year -old student, sums up the stake: “This destroys the goal of humanity. We have so many extraordinary capacities to create art and music and simply appreciate what surrounds us. Some of the most important things for us are replaced by things that are not real.”
Alice E. Marwick, research director at Data & Society, Analysis: “With Duolingo and Audible, you choose to use AI. It is a personal pleasure for which you pay a product. In both cases, it gives a feeling of loss, that there is something interesting or special in these products which is lost because of the AI.” To put it simply: if the AI remains optional, it participates in leveling from below for these applications.
Duolingo has built a solid community with its mascot, a green owl. The company is betting on fun communication but since, in its publications, many Internet users express their frustration in the face of the imposed AI.
Companies defend themselves against boycott
The company defends its strategy in a press release: “It is not a question of replacing people with AI. Our goal is to use AI to improve Duolingo, and allow our talented employees to focus on creative work and the resolution of big problems. We are hiring in all departments.”
As for Audible, the company justifies reading by AI by a lack of budget of certain authors since it takes thousands of dollars under the elbow. A spokesperson for society is explained: “These tools will give the publishers selected another option to create audio books that have not been made differently. It is a ‘and’ strategy to provide more audio titles, completing our continuous investment in human narration, widening the choice of listeners and giving the works of more authors the broader audience than they deserve.”
However, many suspect that in the long term, audio books will be fully replaced by AI. But is the technology so a saleswoman as that when marketing keeps serving it in all sauces?
Mesut Cicek, professor assistant in marketing at Washington State University, explains that the simple term “IA” In a product description is enough to put off potential customers.
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