AI and LinkedIn – what’s going wrong?

AI and its implications for the global job market, education, and even our cognitive development have been among the most hotly debated topics of the past few years, with publications such as the Financial Times dedicating entire sections to exploring this phenomenon. Its use is now ubiquitous – according to an EY survey released earlier this year, around 70% of UK-based respondents had deliberately used AI in their daily lives during the six months preceding the survey, and this figure is only set to increase as people discover new use cases.

The biggest AI use give-aways

While workplace adoption still lags behind personal use – with only 39% of businesses using AI in some way, according to Moneypenny – most of us have witnessed a surge in AI-generated LinkedIn content. And it doesn’t take a sophisticated detection tool to spot it. The tell-tale signs include an abundance of emojis, often at the start of a sentence; overly structured formats; and a lack of personal anecdotes or specific details. Once you become aware of these markers, they are impossible to unsee. 

Being time-poor, many of us instinctively scroll past, knowing the post was hastily put together by Copilot, ChatGPT, or another generative AI platform and lacks the personal stamp and authenticity that matter in an age of information oversaturation.

A sudden and dramatic change in posting activity is another suspicious indicator that may turn people away – you either have too much time on your hands or are posting for the sake of posting, neither of which inspires engagement. Maintaining basic LinkedIn hygiene is important. Just as most of us wouldn’t start spraying perfume on a plane or in a lift, please refrain from spreading AI-generated wisdom too aggressively – and if you choose to, don’t overdo it with emojis.

Facebook’s cautionary tale

Granted, not everyone is a born writer, and it’s only natural that many choose to turn to technology to revive their feeds. But our over-reliance on AI, which occasionally borders on abuse, may ultimately alienate the people in our networks instead of leading to higher engagement. This is where the risk lies. 

Only 13 years ago, Facebook was the number one social media platform globally. While it still has an enormous user base of over 3 billion people, the way it is used has changed dramatically. Active engagement – sharing updates and interacting in comments – has given way to passive browsing. The average time spent on the platform dropped from 58 minutes in 2019 to about 30 minutes in 2024/2025 in the US. The reasons for its decline are complex: the rise of TikTok, privacy concerns, the proliferation of ads, and low-quality or even harmful content.

What’s next for LinkedIn?

LinkedIn remains more balanced, although it has faced criticism for becoming more political, and it benefits from tools that help maintain engagement, such as job listings and career development resources. But it is not immune to user fatigue. In the short term, the surge in activity aided by generative AI may seem positive. In the long run, however, we will likely grow tired of inauthentic, repetitive, and self-promotional content.

LinkedIn has several options to future-proof itself. It can strengthen moderation to reduce low-quality and low-value posts, or it can continue improving the functionalities that make the platform unique – features that go beyond the feed and keep users engaged for reasons other than scrolling. The challenge isn’t AI itself; it’s how we use it. If LinkedIn can strike the right balance between innovation and authenticity, it will remain the go-to platform for professional connection in an AI-driven world.