LinkedIn expects to pass the 1 billion user mark this month, and timed to that feat is unleashing a new suite of AI productivity tools, including job coaching, personalized digests and help writing original content for the platform. The new machine learning assists will initially be available only to Premium subscribers, centered on the aforementioned three main areas. The move follows months in which LinkedIn has been upgrading its AI capabilities in areas like automated recruiter messaging, job descriptions and profile writing suggestions. The improvements draw on OpenAI technology, in which LinkedIn parent Microsoft has an ownership stake.

The new AI tools can be used to spruce up a feed or digest linked articles and then “write something smart” using generative AI to create the response.

“You can apply them to your job-hunting experience, typically when you send a response to a recruiter or if you’re a recruiter reaching out to a candidate,” TechCrunch explains. LinkedIn plans to evaluate how the AI tools are used as a basis for determining how they will be expanded.

The new “job seeker coach” AI chatbot “aims in part to help users gauge whether a job application is worth their time, is powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4 and began rolling out to some Premium users,” writes CNBC, noting “Microsoft has invested billions of dollars into OpenAI.”

At the same time, TechCrunch reports that “amidst all of LinkedIn’s AI announcements, it’s also been laying off people, including in areas like R&D and engineering,” adding that “the company is indeed streamlining, and as it takes its next steps in its evolution, it is doing so less as an independent entity.”

“We benefit from having some of the most advanced AI talent and technology in the world,” LinkedIn Chief Product Officer Tomer Cohen writes in a blog post that says those resources power “an economic engine that serves over 985 million members and 67 million companies,” providing “hiring, learning, marketing, and selling” expertise.

Fast Company says LinkedIn’s new AI tools “will help job seekers research industries and opportunities, and help them generate content they’ll need to pursue opportunities.” It will additionally “help analyze the user’s feed, looking for industry commentary or news that might suggest or affect job opportunities” and “show who in the user’s network is interested in or talking about the same things.”

Related:
LinkedIn Taps OpenAI to Upgrade Business Marketing Tools, ETCentric, 10/5/23