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In any language, silence sounds just about the same. It carries a thunderous kick, though, when it comes from Duolingo, the worlds most popular language-learning app, and its famously irreverent social media presence. Facing heavy backlash online after unveiling its new AI-first policy, Duolingo went dark over the weekend on the social media channels where it cultivated an enormous following with quirky posts. The company even took down all of its posts on TikTok and Instagram, where it has 6.7 million and 4.1 million followers, respectively, after both accounts were flooded with negative feedback. After days of silence, on Tuesday the company posted a bizarre video message on TikTok and Instagram whose meaning is hard to decipher. Duolingo had been riding high before CEO Luis von Ahn announced on LinkedIn that the company is phasing out human contractors, looking for AI use in hiring and in performance reviews, and that headcount will only be given if a team cannot automate more of their work. The company ended 2024 with $748 million in revenue, up 41% year over year, and it had more than 116 million monthly active users and 9.5 million paying subscribers as of March. The previous month, the company had executed its most successful social media campaign ever, with the death (by Cybertruck) of the brands mascot, Duo the owl, and his eventual resurrection two weeks later. Duolingo has had such a tremendous yearwith its stock near an all-time high, closing at $526 per share on Tuesdaythat it recently raised its sales forecast for 2025. But that was before the backlash. Duolingo previously faced criticism for quietly laying off 10% of its contractor base and introducing some AI features in late 2023, but it barely went beyond a semi-viral post on Reddit. Now that Duolingo is cutting out all its human contractors whose work can technically be done by AI, and relying on more AI-generated language lessons, the response is far more pronounced. Although earlier TikTok videos are not currently visible, a Fast Company article from May 12 captured a flavor of the reaction: The top comments on virtually every recent post have nothing to do with the video or the companyand everything to do with the companys embrace of AI. For example, a Duolingo TikTok video jumping on board the Mama, may I have a cookie trend saw replies like Mama, may I have real people running the company (with 69,000 likes) and How about NO ai, keep your employees. Another video that tied into the How to Train Your Dragon character Hiccup brought comments like Was firing all your employees and replacing them with AI also a hiccup? This weekend Duolingo expunged all its videos and photos on TikTok and Instagram, and ceased putting out new content on all other channels. Lets just say were experimenting with silence, a spokesperson for Duolingo told Fast Company over email. Sometimes, the best way to make noise is to disappear first. If that last line sounds like a cryptic Don Draperism, it recalls one of the more famous pieces of advice from Mad Men: If you dont like what is being said, change the conversation. Over the past several days, the silence made it seem like Duolingo was gearing up for another of its signature viral stunts. Sure enough, on Tuesday, one arrived. @duolingo DUOLINGO WAS NEVER FUNNY. WE WERE. original sound – Duolingo Duolingos first video drop in days has the degraded, stuttering feel of a Max Headroom video made by the hackers at Anonymous. In it, a supposed member of the companys social team appears in a three-eyed Duo mask and black hoodie to complain about the corporate overlords ruining the empire the heroic social media crew built. Everything came crashing down after one single post about AI, our interlocutor says, a winking nod to the cause of the backlash. The problem, however, wasnt one single post about AI, but the companys policies around AI. If the problem were just a cute post that went sideways, it could be solved with another cute post. But this is something Duolingo cant cute-post its way out of. Its the double-edged sword of a company becoming famous for its fun, massively popular social media presence: When social media turns on you, its a lot more noticeable. Creating a kooky, personality-driven brand identity online has zero downside until the moment a company must respond to an actual backlash in the exact same digital town square where it conducted all that brand-building business. Now Duolingo has thrust itself into what looks like a cant-win double-bind, whereby posting through it might seem callous and tone-deaf, but addressing the controversy seriously would be a jarring disruption that plays like it was filmed at gunpoint. Wendys, which kind of pioneered the unhinged corporate brand account in the early 2010s, faced a similar dilemma last year. When the company appeared to float the idea of implementing surge pricing on its burgers, fans revolted on social media. Some responded to typically cheeky Wendys posts by mocking the brands attempt to harness internet humor at a time when the internet was mad at that brand. In that case, Wendys quickly denied plans to implement surge pricing, and disgruntled fans moved on nearly as quickly. Duolingo, on the other hand, has not yet meaningfully addressed the policies that inspired the backlash against it. Now the Duolingo social media team is trying to have it both ways, taking an ironic, postmodern approach to address a serious issue, instead of breezing past it. Without the company confronting the controversy elsewhere, though, the subtext of every cute social post is that the customers unhappy with Duolingos AI direction are not worth taking seriously. We cant just move on and pretend everythings fine, the mask-wearing Duolingo employee says at one point in the new video. Hes flicking at the idea of taking accountability for the AI fallout, but in the video, its meant to be a rejoinder from the Duolingo social team to the faceless entities above whove made them look bad. Its difficult to parse the exact message here. The video is somehow simultaneously defensive, satirical, avoidant, and flippant. Though it may be the opening salvo in a broader message, for now it seems like a half-baked rush response to a very real issuethe Duolingo brand version of just moving on and pretending everythings fine. Judging by the eyeroll-y comments on the brands TikTok post, though, users can sense as much. It doesnt take a language-learning app to know how to read between the lines.
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E-Commerce
China produces 75% of the worlds batteries. South Korea and Japan control much of the remaining supply chain. With tariffs looming over the industry, the U.S. is in a unique position, having both urgency and opportunity to strengthen domestic battery production for myriad uses. The reality is that American battery manufacturers lag their Asian counterparts. Companies here are attempting to catch up by rushing to follow Asias manufacturing formula, but that strategy wont hold up in the long term. The only way to surpass these larger Asian competitors is to move on from outdated manufacturing methods and materials and focus on what defines American leadership: innovation. Playing catch-up wont cut it Its clear China and other Asian countries today have the advantage when it comes to battery manufacturing. Their factories are larger, their supply chains are better developed, and their experience and know-how mean batteries can be produced cheaper and quicker. It takes far less time to start up a battery factory there than in the U.S. The U.S. is in the midst of building up factories. Compared to Asia, however, the country still struggles with slower factory construction, longer time to start up, and more expensive batteries with lower yields, often producing lower-performing products. The U.S. wont be able to reach the same production levels and will continue to fall behind if we just keep playing catch-up. The innovation game Sticking to old-school battery manufacturing methods wont win the battery race. Instead, the U.S. can reclaim a leadership position only by playing an entirely different game and proving the solutions of existing product chokepoints: cost, safety, and performance. Battery architectures have remained fundamentally unchanged over the past 30 years. While the industry has made remarkable progress in energy density and cycle life, the same decades-old battery design principles still dictate what a battery is and can do. Process improvements and add-ons alone cant address these design limitationsthink updating an app without ever upgrading the operating system. By redefining how a battery is made from the beginning, the U.S. can leapfrog competition and create a new foundation others can build on. 3 innovation factors Easier said than done, of course. To see real improvements, we must focus on three innovation factors: cost, performance, and safety. Todays solutions often compromise one to improve another, but we cant afford to make that sacrifice. If we can advance all three in parallel, theres no question we can pull ahead in the battery race. Closing this gap isnt just critical for U.S. competitiveness. By leading in battery innovation, the U.S. can set the pace for the global industry, creating technologies and frameworks that will drive progress for partners around the world. 1. Reduce costs While battery costs have dropped dramatically over the past few years, the price of productionand adoptionstill holds back widespread electrification. But swapping in cheaper materials or production shortcuts can impact safety and performance. Instead, innovation must be the driver of cost reduction through simplifications. For U.S. battery makers, this could look like novel manufacturing methods, better material utilization in cell design, or waste reduction through improved closed-loop recycling processes. 2. Boost performance Todays consumers and commercial workloads demand more energy and power than ever. Drivers want longer EV range and faster charging, without the drop in performance during cold weather. Meanwhile, manufacturers face mounting pressure to find sustainable solutions that reduce dependency on certain materials and improve recyclability to combat volatile supply chains. Tech innovation can meet these demands. For example, emerging electrolyte chemistries can enable faster charge cycles and lower temperature operations (up to -30° Celsius) without degrading battery life, and next-gen cell designs can pack more energy into smaller, lighter formats. 3. Prioritize safety Today, the battery industry is treating safety as a top priorityand for good reason. As EV adoption grows, so does the risk of battery fires and thermal runaway. Recalls are costly, and public trust is fragile. In energy storage systems, fire concerns from local residents are delaying siting and deployment. Battery fire incidents onboard airplanes and fatal e-bike fires are yet more headaches for an already beleaguered industry. We need battery innovations that dont just contain fires but prevent them from happening in the first place. Current solutions, like cell-to-cell thermal barriers or battery management systems that monitor a batterys health, often fail to address the root cause. Instead, our innovation focus should be on smarter battery technologies at the electrode level that block dangerous dendrite growth, prevent short circuits, and enable safe shutdowns of individual cells. Stop imitating, start disrupting The future of batteries wont be built in yesterdays factories. If the U.S. wants to pioneer a reimagined industry, we cant settle for chasing Asias playbook. We need to simplify where possible, innovate where it counts, and rethink the battery from the ground up. Thats how we turn a game of catch-up into a strategy of disruption. While this challenge might feel steep, the good news is were not starting from zero. Tech leaders across the U.S. are already developing breakthroughs in chemistry, materials, and manufacturing that are redefining batteries. Indeed, we have worked on providing solutions for the last 14 years, and we are ready. With the right support and speed, these advancements can shift the industry and propel the global energy future forward. The race for battery dominance isnt over, its just changing shape. Naoki Ota is president and CEO of 24M.
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E-Commerce
Adobe will be giving its priciest subscription tier an AI-first rebrandand adding an even higher price tag. Adobes Creative Cloud All Apps subscription, which includes access to more than 20 Adobe apps, will soon be known as Creative Cloud Pro, the company announced last week. The renamed subscription plan will give users expanded access to Adobes AI-powered tools and apps, but for a price: For subscribers on an annual plan, the cost will increase from $59.99 to $69.99 monthly, or from $659.88 to $779.99 annually. Beginning on June 17, any members of Creative Cloud All Apps will be automatically opted into Creative Cloud Pro. According to Adobes announcement of the plan, Creative Cloud Pro pricing will be effective at your next renewal on or after June 17. Currently, these changes are only rolling out in North America. This follows better-than-expected first quarter 2025 financial results for the software company, which reported a record revenue of $5.71 billion, equal to 10% year-over-year growth. Still, Adobe’s shares dropped after the report, as several experts and investors noted concerns that the company might be falling behind competitors with its AI efforts. Creative Cloud Pro appears to be the next step for Adobe to monetize its newly robust suite of AI tools by making them a mandatory investment for the companys most dedicated users, even as it rolls out made without generative AI image labels. Heres what to know about the new plan. Whats new on Creative Cloud Pro? To start, Creative Cloud Pro comes with all of the features that were included under the Creative Cloud All Apps umbrella. The plan includes a portfolio of more than 30,000 fonts, unlimited Creative Cloud libraries, millions of stock photos and videos, and 100 gigabytes of cloud storage. In addition to these perks, the upgraded plan will include several new AI features. First, users will gain unlimited access to standard generative tools like Photoshops Generative Fill, which can essentially deepfake anything within a composition, and Lightrooms Generative Remove, which eliminates unwanted details in a photo. Creative Cloud Pro users will also have 4,000 monthly credits to use for Adobes class of premium generative features, like Premiere Pros Generative Extend, which uses AI to add frames to the beginning or end of any video. The rebranded subscription also includes the most recent Firefly app, which Adobe bills as its one-stop shop for exploration and ideation with creative AI. The app comes with Adobes new text-to-image generator Image Model 4, as well as its Firefly Video Model, which first entered public beta testing last month. Another feature called Firefly Boards allows teams to do some Pinterest-style mood board brainstorming. For any Creative Cloud Pro users who have a different AI model of choice, they can also choose to import Google Imagen 3 and Veo 2, OpenAI image generation, or Flux 1.1 Pro into Firefly. More details on Creative Cloud Pro features are available here. How much will it cost for different kinds of users? Prices are set to rise across the board for all kinds of Creative Cloud All Apps users. For rolling subscribers (those not on an annual plan), prices will rise from $89.99 to $104.99. For teams, prices will jump from $89.99 to $99.99 per month. And for student and teacher plans, renewal prices are set to increase from $34.99 to $39.99 monthly. What if I dont want to join this new plan? If youre a current Creative Cloud All Apps user but dont want to be automatically shuffled into Creative Cloud Pro, Adobe has created another subscription tier called Creative Cloud Standard. This tier is the same price as the former Creative Cloud All Apps ($54.99 per month for annual users), but it comes with a bit less value. Whereas All Apps included 1,000 monthly credits for the aforementioned standard generative features, Creative Cloud Standard only includes 25 credits. It also limits access to premium features on mobile and web apps, and, of course, does not include premium generative features or Firefly. While Adobes web page states that Creative Cloud Standard is only available to existing customers, an Adobe spokesperson clarified that new users can actually join this tier by contacting customer support. Its a trade-off that essentially means youll be paying the same amount for a subscription with fewer bonuses, but it might be the option that makes the most sense for users who have no interest in Adobes AI features. On Reddit, plenty of users have already expressed displeasure with the new plan. It’s easy to see why. Adobe is automatically upgrading subscriptions to the more expensive Creative Cloud Pro tier, a UX pattern that makes it less likely for users to opt out than if they had to make an active choice and tick a subscribe box, for instance. Both this and the Creative Cloud Standard journey for new users could be seen as dark patterns, which are UX pathways that manipulate users into taking actions that they may not have intended but are in the business interests of the company. The U.S. sued Adobe over its hard-to-cancel subscriptions last year. The goal of the automatic upgrade, in combination with the decreased appeal of the Creative Cloud Standard tier due to its reduced features, seems to be to draw more daily active users into the company’s existing AI products. That would be in close keeping with its recent focus on monetizing generative AI tools following its last earnings report, which was plagued with fears that Adobe isn’t staying ahead in the AI race. An Adobe spokesperson declined to comment on the reasoning behind the subscription tier rebrand and whether users will be personally notified before the change takes place.
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E-Commerce
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