Watch out Stage 2
Chegg sold students textbook rentals and then subscription homework answers. Students are leaving for AI chatbots: subscribers fell 31% in a year (2025), and Chegg cut a fifth of its staff. That is decline, but no documented extraction, so the stage 3 test isn’t met. Stage 2.
Why it’s rated 2
The criteria it meets, with sources · Method
- Alignment 0 of 3
- None
- Lock-in 0 of 4
- None
- Extraction 0 of 7
- None
- Decline 1 of 3
-
- D1 Users leaving May 12, 2025
Result No extraction that meets the stage 3 test, and either some lock-in or no alignment criterion, so stage 2.
News signals
Sourced reporting, tagged by strategy
May 12, 2025
Chegg cuts 22% of staff as subscribers fall 31% amid AI competition
Investor pressure