LinkedIn Using Your Data for AI Training: Here’s How to Disable It

LinkedIn is a professional networking platform that facilitates connections and job opportunities. However, it has allegedly accessed your data without permission to train its AI models, and this information is also accessible to its affiliates, who can use your personal data for similar purposes.

Not The First Company To Utilize The Data

These concerning details were reported by 404Media this week. After independent verification, it has been confirmed that LinkedIn has activated this feature without users’ awareness. Additionally, the platform appears to have enabled other options on its own within the ‘How LinkedIn uses your data’ section found in the settings.

LinkedIn is not the first company to utilize the data of millions of users without their knowledge. Alarmingly, the platform has done so without informing users. Even our account had the data scraping option enabled, which LinkedIn claims is for improving generative AI. When you access the tab, you’ll see a green toggle button, indicating that your data has already been scraped and used for AI training.

LinkedIn’s Data Use For AI

So, what is LinkedIn doing with this data, and which AI features are utilizing it? The platform’s help section, somewhat obscured under “learn more,” clearly states that tools like AI-powered writing assistants are being developed using your data. 

Interestingly, LinkedIn refers to this section,  “Control whether LinkedIn uses your data to train generative AI models that are used for content creation on LinkedIn.” It’s unclear where users can find control options since the feature has been enabled by default.

How To Stop It?

Fortunately, you can disable the data scraping feature. Here’s how:

1. Open LinkedIn.
2. Click on your profile photo at the top.
3. Go to Settings & Privacy.
4. Click on Data Privacy from the left tab.
5. Tap on Data for Generative AI improvement.
6. Turn off the option “Use my data for training content creation AI models.” 

This will prevent LinkedIn from using your data for its AI training. As noted, LinkedIn is not the first company to engage in this unethical practice; Meta has faced similar accusations regarding Instagram and Facebook users in certain regions. More brands will likely emerge as culprits in the future.

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