During a period when the spectre of the recession took over, LinkedIn introduced several AI-powered features to help recruiters find the right candidates. Since then, there has been an increase in messages from recruiters offering promising opportunities. 

LinkedIn Recruiter, a platform for hiring professionals, recently rolled out the AI-generated messages feature to create personalised InMail messages for potential candidates using their LinkedIn profile data. This feature aims to reduce generic, impersonal outreach that often gets flagged as spam. 

The platform released this feature with the sole intention of helping recruiters, but it is now starting to look more like an AI training ground. 

This has left a majority of the users miffed. Some feel ‘harassed’ or ‘insulted’ by the idea of AI viewing their profiles for data collection and message crafting, particularly when the motive appears to be training of the AI systems. 

At the same time, users have also reported receiving messages mentioning interesting job opportunities, but upon opening the link, they encounter a blank attachment. And when they visit the sender’s profile, it becomes evident that it was AI-generated.  

In a 2022 update, Renee DiResta and her Stanford Internet Observatory team investigated fake LinkedIn profiles and uncovered over 1,000 of them using AI-created faces. The motive for fake profiles goes beyond hiring; these are also used to attract sales for companies with big and small accounts. 

Redefining Job Hiring with AI

The role of an HR has become strategic over the years. They require better data and tools to hire top talent for the organisations. And so, Recruiter 2024 was introduced to help with major tasks of HR professionals. 

The AI-assisted Recruiter 2024 empowers talent leaders to express their hiring requirements in natural language, such as stating, “I want to hire a senior content writer”. 

By harnessing generative AI with LinkedIn’s data, it provides the ideal candidate profile sought by the recruiter, delivering potential candidate suggestions from a diverse talent pool. This approach moves beyond the big names, broadening the scope of potential candidates significantly.

Hari Srinivasan, vice president of product management at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, said, “By pairing generative AI with our unique insights gained from more than 950 million professionals, 65 million companies, and 40,000 skills on our platform, we’ve reimagined our Recruiter product to help our customers find that short list of qualified candidates — faster.” 

AI Empowering Candidates in Job Search

As per HootSuite data, 140 job applications are submitted every second on LinkedIn. That’s 8.72 million job applications sent every day. And so to make the process easier, LinkedIn has rolled out AI-powered job searches to help users assess if a particular job is a good fit for them and identify the best way to position themselves for the same. 

A LinkedIn user raised a pertinent question though: “There’s no doubt that AI has been a HUGE support for job seekers, but I question whether applying for more roles faster is a good thing. Could an increased number of applications lead to a surge in less thoughtful applications? Is the quality of applications at risk when AI becomes the norm?”

Recently, the professional networking platform added a new ‘Catch Up’ tab to make conversations with connections easier by adding highlights about them like new job update, work anniversary, or if they are looking to hire someone. 

The new feature will notify users about their connections’ new updates and generate opening lines like “Congratulations on the new job.” 

Over the next few years, AI-assisted hiring tools will transform how companies recruit talent, making the process easier and more efficient by eliminating the need for extensive profile searches, emails, and follow-up messages. 

Clearly, there’s no turning back now, as LinkedIn has become a prime data and AI training ground for numerous companies. But this raises an important question: Is this ethical, and more importantly, is it good for us?