LinkedIn is stepping up efforts to tackle the surge of low-quality AI-generated content on its platform.
On Thursday, the professional networking site announced a new feature that allows users to flag posts they believe were created using artificial intelligence by selecting a “seems like AI slop” option.
The move is part of a wider push by online platforms to curb the spread of AI-generated content, amid growing user frustration over the increasing volume of generic, computer-written posts crowding the internet.
Last week, newsletter platform Substack introduced a tool that helps readers identify AI-generated content through a partnership with Pangram.
Pangram also announced this week that it had raised $9 million in fresh funding to combat the growing wave of AI-generated content flooding the internet.
The issue is affecting newer platforms as well. Social news startup Digg shut down its Reddit rival in March after saying it was unable to contain the large number of bots overwhelming the platform.
Internet infrastructure company Cloudflare says the problem is continuing to worsen, with automated bot traffic now exceeding human-generated internet activity — a milestone the company said was reached sooner than it had previously forecast.
In a post on LinkedIn, the company’s chief product officer, Hari Srinivasan acknowledged that the Microsoft-owned professional networking platform is grappling with the same challenge..
“AI slop is a top priority for all of us. We really care about this. People come to LinkedIn to connect with real people and share their real perspectives, ideas, and expertise,” he said.
He said the new “Seems like AI slop” button is one of several measures LinkedIn is introducing to curb the spread of low-quality, AI-generated content across its platform.
LinkedIn said it is also strengthening its automated defenses, blocking hundreds of thousands of bot-generated comment attempts each day and preventing millions of other automated activities over the past few months.
Hari Srinivasan said the company is rolling out new AI classifiers to detect AI-generated spam and other low-quality posts.
Content identified as “AI slop” will be less likely to appear in recommended posts from outside a user’s network. He added that feedback from the new “Seems like AI slop” button will help train LinkedIn’s AI models to better identify and limit such content.
