LinkedIn launches button to report low-quality AI content

LinkedIn adds button to report AI-generated content

LinkedIn is moving to combat "AI junk" — low-quality content generated artificially that is flooding feeds. The new feature is a button that allows users to signal when a post appears to have been written by a machine. This change is part of a broader effort by online platforms to reduce automated content, which has frustrated many users.

Substack, for example, recently introduced a tool to identify AI-generated texts, in partnership with Pangram. Pangram, in turn, announced $9 million in funding to tackle the problem. It's not just LinkedIn that is dealing with this. Startups are also being impacted. Digg shut down its Reddit competitor due to the difficulty in managing the number of bots. Cloudflare reports that bot traffic on the web now exceeds that of human requests, a milestone reached faster than expected.

Hari Srinivasan, Chief Product Officer of LinkedIn, acknowledged that the social network faces similar challenges. He explained that the new button is just one of the measures the company is taking to reduce low-quality content.

LinkedIn seeks to reduce low-quality content

In addition to the new button, LinkedIn is investing in automated defenses, blocking hundreds of thousands of automated comment attempts daily. The company is also introducing new classifiers to identify low-quality posts. The button will help fine-tune AI models to better identify this type of content.

Another measure is that LinkedIn will privately alert users when content appears inauthentic due to excessive use of AI. The idea is to help users improve their writing if they are merely refining their work with technology, rather than creating completely automated content.

LinkedIn is also removing its own "improve your post" tool, which used AI to assist in writing. Now, the company will offer a function that reviews your words without altering your style. Other improvements include expanding access to profile and page verification tools, as well as an option to block comments from company pages you no longer wish to see.

Authenticity is the new gold in the digital age. And LinkedIn seems determined to ensure that its connections are real, not just disguised algorithms.