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[1] AI-generated writing is now all over the internet. The introduction of automated prose can sometimes change a website’s character, like when once beloved publications get purchased and overhauled into AI content mills. Other times, however, it’s harder to argue that AI really changed anything. For example, look at LinkedIn. The Microsoft-owned social media site for business professionals has embraced AI, even offering LinkedIn Premium subscribers access to its own in-house AI writing tools that can “rewrite” posts, profiles, and direct messages. The initiative appears to be working: over 54 percent of longer English-language posts on LinkedIn are likely AI-generated, according to an analysis by the startup Originality AI.

The startup scanned a sample of 8,795 public LinkedIn posts over 100 words long that were published from January 2018 to October 2024. It found out that the use of AI writing tools on LinkedIn was negligible for the first few years. A major increase then occurred at the beginning of 2023. At that point, Originality found the number of likely AI-generated posts had spiked 189 percent; it has since leveled off.

About this topic, LinkedIn says it doesn’t track how many posts on the site are written or edited with AI tools. Adam Walkiewicz, the platform’s head of feed relevance, points out “we do have robust defenses in place to proactively identify low-quality, and exact or near-exact duplicate content. When we detect such content, we take action to ensure it is not broadly promoted. We see AI as a tool that can help with review of a draft or to beat the blank page problem”.

[2] Generally, LinkedIn is used for finding a new job and keeping in touch with former coworkers, that is, a relatively staid social media platform. Nevertheless, in recent years, it’s developed its own network of influencers and is surprisingly popular with Gen Z, including teenagers. Like everywhere else on the internet, people on LinkedIn are thirsty for attention, and companies have realized there’s money to be made helping them grow their audiences.

That is why there’s a cottage industry of AI LinkedIn comment and post generators to help the career-minded churn out content to dazzle potential bosses or prospective customers. Instead of spending four minutes puzzling over the right tone with which to congratulate an ex-colleague on their promotion, it now takes four seconds to conjure up an algorithmically generated accolade. 

[3] But writing with AI is a topic that receives varied opinions. On the one hand, LinkedIn users who spoke to WIRED say that they do not rely on AI tools when trying to cobble their LinkedIn posts together. On the other hand, several non-native English speakers who also spoke to WIRED say they lean on AI tools to polish their English writing and fix grammar errors.

Besides, some people who have embraced AI on LinkedIn have received blowback. For instance, the entrepreneur Zack Fosdyck has gotten mixed feedback about his use of automated tools. According to him, some people engaged positively, appreciating the clarity and structure of the posts. Others, though, were skeptical or critical, often focusing on the fact that AI was involved rather than the content itself. He completes by saying “I find it fascinating how polarizing this technology can be, especially since tools like calculators or spellcheck, which are also forms of assistance, are widely accepted.”

[4] From one angle, LinkedIn may have inadvertently created the ideal laboratory for AI writing. Nobody’s logging on expecting profundity, hilarity, or sincerity. It’s the place where people strive to be the most anodyne versions of themselves, pleasant and inoffensive. Artificiality, in other words, is what everyone is expecting from it. 

Adapted from: https://www.wired.com/story/linkedin-aigenerated-influencers/

Published: Nov 26, 2024 – Accessed: Nov 28, 2024.