LinkedIn cracks down on ‘AI slop’ posts and comments – UK Times

LinkedIn is suppressing posts and comments on the networking platform written with the help of artificial intelligence, the Microsoft-owned company’s vice president of product, Laura Lorenzetti, announced on Wednesday.

Posts flagged as AI-generated by its new detection system will not be removed, but will be suppressed from recommendations, LinkedIn said in a blog post.

The system could correctly flag generic AI-generated content 94 per cent of the time in early tests, the company said.

“We’re seeing a rise in what many call ‘AI slop’, content that is low-effort, AI-generated content that may sound polished on the surface but lacks any real unique perspective or substance,” Ms Lorenzetti said.

“At a time when more people need help navigating work, it’s more important than ever that people can learn from real voices, authentic perspectives, and lived expertise,” she wrote, adding that the ultimate value of posts “comes from the human behind the tool”.

The company said its new systems have been trained to recognise signals of AI slop, including “content that feels generic or repetitive, even if it appears polished on the surface”.

“When content appears to be generated by AI and lacks a clear perspective, it is less likely to be widely distributed beyond a person’s immediate network,” it said.

LinkedIn hopes users will see less of such generic AI content from outside one’s network on their feed.

In tests, users could already see fewer of these types of posts in their feeds, with the company expecting more of this feature to be experienced across the platform.

“Bots and fake AI profiles ruin genuine engagement,” LinkedIn said, adding that the new updates are “designed to protect the experience on LinkedIn so when you’re engaging, you’re interacting with real people offering their real point of view”.

However, the platform seems to be walking on a thin line in its application of AI, as it enables users to use its own feature called “Rewrite with AI” in its post composer.

It appears that LinkedIn’s messaging is not to outright ban the use of AI, but to ensure that the technology is the source of information, but original thinking is.

Crackdown by social media companies against AI-generated content isn’t new.

Earlier this year, YouTube announced it was upgrading efforts to find and demonetise channels that mass-produce inauthentic AI-generated content.

TikTok and Meta have also begun enforcing stricter rules for creators to prominently label AI-generated content.