LinkedIn Introduces 'AI Slop' Button Amidst Billions of Blocked Automated Attempts

LinkedIn, the professional networking platform owned by Microsoft, has introduced a new feature designed to combat the proliferation of low-quality, AI-generated content. Effective Thursday, users can now utilize a "Seems like AI slop" button, accessible via the options menu on individual posts. This tool empowers the community to flag content perceived as inauthentic, overreliant on artificial intelligence, or simply of poor quality. Hari Srinivasan, LinkedIn's chief product officer, explained in a public post that the definition of "slop" is dynamic, and this feature will allow LinkedIn to "tune our models and make better feeds" by gathering user feedback.

This initiative is part of a broader effort by LinkedIn to enhance the quality and authenticity of its platform. Alongside the new flagging mechanism, LinkedIn is retiring its "enhance your post" tool. This older feature, which offered suggestions for post improvement, is being replaced by a more refined tool that focuses solely on proofreading without altering a user's unique voice. Furthermore, LinkedIn is reinforcing its verification processes for both individual profiles and company pages to build greater trust among its user base.

The company has also significantly ramped up its automated threat detection. Srinivasan revealed that LinkedIn is currently blocking hundreds of thousands of automated "slop comment" attempts on a daily basis. More dramatically, the platform has prevented "billions of other automation attempts (posting at scale, slop) in the last couple months alone." This indicates a substantial and ongoing challenge from malicious actors or automated systems seeking to manipulate the platform.

Srinivasan was careful to clarify that the use of AI itself is not inherently negative. He acknowledged that many professionals leverage AI tools to refine their ideas and improve their communication. The "AI slop" button, therefore, is not intended to penalize legitimate AI assistance but rather to identify content that lacks genuine human input or quality. The tool will also help users understand when their own posts might sound "inauthentic" to others.

This move by LinkedIn comes in the wake of a significant surge in AI-generated content across the internet, particularly following the public release of OpenAI's ChatGPT in late 2022. A recent study by the AI text detection tool Pangram highlighted the extent of this issue on LinkedIn, finding that 40% of long-form posts and 30% of short-form posts were flagged as fully AI-generated. This underscores the urgency for platforms like LinkedIn to address the potential degradation of content quality and user experience.

LinkedIn is not alone in this effort. Other major technology companies are also implementing measures to manage AI-generated content. For example, Snapchat recently announced that it would no longer recommend fully AI-generated videos on its Spotlight feature, demonstrating a wider industry trend towards curating more authentic and human-centric content.