LinkedIn, the Microsoft-owned social platform renowned for professional networking and recruitment, has released a series of new AI features to enhance its job hunting, marketing, and sales offerings. These developments, which include substantial updates to its Recruiter talent sourcing platform and the introduction of an AI-powered LinkedIn Learning coach, are engineered to keep the platform’s approximately 1 billion users engaged and up-to-date with current professional trends. They also mark a significant step in LinkedIn’s ongoing efforts to incorporate AI into its operations.
“AI powers everything at LinkedIn.” – Deepak Agarwal, lead AI engineer at LinkedIn.
AI: A Mainstream Preoccupation
These advancements allow everyday people to experience how AI can manually accelerate tasks they previously performed. The shift in public perception and the widespread adoption of AI has led platforms like LinkedIn, which had primarily incorporated AI in its back-end operations, to bring AI to the forefront of their user experience.
OpenAI and Microsoft: LinkedIn’s Tech Powerhouses
LinkedIn has confirmed that it will leverage technology from OpenAI and Microsoft to power its new features. Microsoft, which owns 49% of OpenAI, invested $13 billion in the company earlier this year. The strategic investment enabled Microsoft to infuse its products with OpenAI’s cutting-edge technology. While LinkedIn may continue to evaluate its tech usage and potentially build its Large Language Models and other AI products, it is now tapping into its parent company and prime investment.
New Features Unveiled
LinkedIn has introduced Recruiter 2024, an AI-assisted recruiting experience among the new features. It uses generative AI to help recruitment professionals develop better search strings, thus producing more robust candidate lists. The new LinkedIn Learning coach, built as a chatbot, will provide advice and suggestions on soft skills.
Additionally, LinkedIn is boosting its marketing capabilities with a new product called Accelerate, designed to simplify campaign management on the platform. However, as Accelerate is limited to campaigns and data within LinkedIn, its impact might be qualified for users running campaigns across multiple platforms.
Lastly, LinkedIn is also employing AI to enhance its B2B selling capabilities. A new AI feature will assist in locating potential connections and initiating conversations with leads, a function that seems long overdue for a platform that sales professionals heavily utilize.