LinkedIn has quietly enrolled users in training generative AI models, according to a report by 404Media. The professional social network introduced a new privacy setting that allows it to use personal data for AI training without prior user consent.
While LinkedIn has updated its privacy policy to include this change, many users were not notified in advance. The updated policy indicates that personal data may be utilized to “improve, develop, and provide products and services,” including training AI models and automating platform personalization.
Users can opt out by adjusting the “Data for Generative AI Improvement” setting in the Data Privacy tab, though this only affects future data usage and does not retract previously used data.
LinkedIn claims it uses “privacy-enhancing technologies” to redact or remove personal data from its training sets and does not train models with data from individuals in the EU, EEA, or Switzerland. For opting out of other machine learning tools used for moderation and personalization, users must complete the LinkedIn Data Processing Objection Form.
