Italki said they were going to return unused lessons in packages to customers. Previously, they would pay the lessons to the people who had managed to sell them originally (minus the commission). I think we are all aware, these lessons aren't being refunded to the customer. They're sitting in their (potentially) inactive account until italki declares the lessons void and keeps the money. This leads to point 2.
Italki now seems to be pressuring teachers into trying to sell packages if they want to maintain a similar (10 lesson = 17%) or equal (15+ lesson = 15%) commission. We were told, if the packages are returned we would receive the payment for the lessons (already taught) at the single lesson price (minus presumably 21% commission). With no additional money entering the circulation here, I presume Italki is able to fund this by virtue of the fact they expect - in a high percentage of cases - to keep the money of the unused lessons. I would suggest promoting packages has a lot to do with the company's success at carrying out point 1.
After 16 years of having a constant commission structure, Italki has decided to add to the cost of living crisis by adding an additional 6 percent on to the commission of single lessons. They are fully aware, most tutors will have been raising their prices to keep up with inflation. To have to now try to factor in another additional raise is very troubling. You are left with either a pay cut in these difficult times during a winter with electric and gas prices and food prices that have risen greatly recently, or to try to pass on that cost to the student without scaring them away, and (even more challenging) while attracting new students. The logical step for many people is to ask their regular students to go outside the platform. I think many teachers would take that step quite reluctantly, but it seems that they're teasing the question of "well what if we did outside of italki? Could it be cheaper?" I find it worrying that they don't seem to be too concerned about this. This leads to point 4.
Italki is trying to collect and harvest your teaching techniques and data. My guess would be they have a plan for some kind of AI teacher. Maybe that is inevitable. To those of you who are allowing them to record you, I think you're crazy. I think you're speeding up the death of this industry, and I think you might be shocked to discover what rights they have over your face and voice after you tick yes.
AI has obviously impacted online teaching enormously. I would say that the lower end of the market has already been replaced very effectively by AI. I think the top end of the market might have some years left, but if the pyramid is falling apart, get used to the idea of the commission going up and up because there is a smaller pool of students, and while there may always be a market for a 'human connection,' I think that's already a somewhat limited sell on a digital platform. If people need to eat, they end up lowering their prices, and we'll end up chasing each other to the gutter. This online teaching industry has lost so many jobs it used to be able to do pretty much uniquely... 'proofreading, checking essays, advice on writing, homework'.. many of those things now are gone or massively reduced. Italki isn't thinking about how to get those back. They're thinking about how the people who are now going to chatGPT might go to them instead for similar tasks, and I'm sorry to say none of that potential business involves you or I.
