I think the author would have had a better reception without the triumphant “canceled French tutor” framing. The juxtaposition of “learning a language” with “cutting out the human element” is very off-putting.
But, the learning writeups that lead with the "learning something new" part kind of feel better the those who put unnecessary emphasis on "canceled tutor". So, you get something inspiring like a book they can read now (and could not before), about podcast they understood (and could not before) or a little about successful small talk in French. I have no idea about what the author learned in what time.