Automate or else! From Duolingo to Shopify, bosses’ “AI” mandates spark a new productivity theatre
Your TL;DR Briefing on things worth tracking — and talking about over your next power lunch. *Wink.* This time the thing is workplace “AI” coercion and workers required to pretend the bosses’ wet dreams are true (even when they’re clearly not).
The thing is:
In early February, the world’s favorite feathered mascot for a language learning app was reportedly killed when struck by a Tesla Cybertruck. But two weeks later, it was revealed the viral social media campaign was a hoax — the make-believe owl named Duo was not, in fact, dead. It was a stunt to drive engagement in the Duolingo app. Duo the Owl returned gym-bro buff, rising at 3:30 a.m. for their morning routine: a beak dunk in lemon ice water; pecking a few bananas; smearing a banana peel on their face; and then getting hooting on a podcast by 4 a.m. Duo’s mantra, per the Instagram caption, was “Rise and Grind.” Perhaps the owl mascot was now the one driving the Cybertruck?
