After embracing the use of AI, the platform now appears to be shifting its strategy.
On the platform, users can now flag a post they believe shows heavy AI use. This feature comes on the heels of the company’s embrace of AI, in which it added AI tools to help members rewrite posts and content.
Now, it seems to be cracking down on AI use.
“AI slop is a top priority for all of us. We really care about this,” Hari Srinivasan, the company’s chief product officer, wrote in an update. “People come to LinkedIn to connect with real people and share their real perspectives, ideas and expertise.”
In this effort, the company said it will continue to expand profile and page verification in order to further identify members and clarify who is writing the content users are reading. LinkedIn will also remove the “enhance your post” AI feature users see when they write a post or message. The button will be replaced with a tool that proofreads content—but does not change a writer’s voice.
“We asked ourselves why do people post with AI anyway? The answer is LinkedIn isn’t a one-word kind of place and they feel more confident running their posts through AI,” said Srinivasan.
When reached for comment, LinkedIn directed Inc. to Srinivasan’s post.
Writing styles
As the use of AI rises, many have turned to tools to help “enhance” their writing. This in turn created a new phrasing—”AI slop”—referring to an overly robotic and keen-toned style of voice that feels generic and low quality.
“The irony here is that LinkedIn’s algorithm is quite elusive, but over the past year it rewarded the type of LLM speak that has become prominent across all socials, especially LinkedIn,” Matt Maher, CEO of M7 Innovations, told Inc.
He added that those type of posts were often successful on the platform. “That one sentence per line, staccato-type speech, ‘not X but Y,’ overly tech-bro copy mansplaining is what actually worked and pumped you up in the algorithm,” he said. “Now they realize they not only gave everyone the tools to create the AI slop they want to eliminate, but they rewarded it in the algorithm and are now desperate to quickly unwind that as fast as they can.”
According to Kinsta, only a small percentage of LinkedIn users actively post on the platform. However, those that do often do so on a regular basis. In order to increase the amount of content, such users may turn to AI tools for assistance. Per a report from 404 Media, between 30 and 41 percent of content on LinkedIn was generated by AI.
For many, the crackdown is a welcome change.
“I see this as highly opportunistic, as someone who uses LinkedIn as a main platform for our thought leadership and has always personally written every post. I now see a path where I can completely speak the algorithm’s language and get amplified,” Maher told Inc. “The larger signal here is that we’re entering the artisanal era of the internet, where every platform realizes that humans, indeed, do not want to see AI slop from one another.”
Feature image credit: Adobe Stock
