LinkedIn Appoints Chief AI Officer Amidst Accusations Of Using Private Messages To Train AI

AI is everywhere!

From software applications to hardware devices, AI has taken over how the technology world advances.

From industry-leading smartphone manufacturers stuffing AI (artificial intelligence) into their products (which actually makes sense) to startups infusing the technology into concept consumer electronics such as spice dispensers (yes, that really happened), the world has gone gaga for the incredible capabilities of AI and its offshoot—GenAI (generative artificial intelligence).

Considering these technologies offer a vast variety of benefits to consumers and companies, it’s no surprise that they’re being pursued heavily, and businesses are striving to gain advantages over their competitors by bringing in specialists.

This is what Microsoft-owned business- and employment-focused social media platform LinkedIn is looking to achieve with its latest move.

Recently, the company hired a new Chief AI Officer in the form of Deepak Agarwal, who joined the company after a four-year stint with Pinterest, where he was the Chief AI Officer and VP of Consumer and Trust Engineering from June 2020 to January 2025.

However, this isn’t the first time Agarwal has worked with LinkedIn.

From April 2012 to June 2020, which spans over eight years, he was the VP of Engineering, Artificial Intelligence at the company. Agarwal also brings in over six years of experience working as a Director of Research and Principal Research Scientist at Yahoo.

In a post on LinkedIn, Agarwal posted about his move to LinkedIn, saying, “LinkedIn has a long and impressive history of using AI to transform the way professionals and businesses connect, learn, and grow.”

“AI is at the heart of everything we do - from personalizing member experiences to help them grow their knowledge and access to opportunity, to empowering businesses, and fostering meaningful professional relationships.”

“My mission as CAIO is to push the boundaries of what’s possible, ensuring our AI innovations are not only cutting-edge and industry-defining but also ethical, inclusive, human-centric and empathetic.”


Interestingly, LinkedIn’s move comes as the company faces a lawsuit alleging the company used private user data to train AI models.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of LinkedIn Premium users, accused the company of sharing their private messages with third-party companies to train AI models without the consent of users. This was done by “quietly” introducing a privacy setting that automatically opted users into a program allowing third-party AI model developers to access personal data.

Ahead of this, it accuses the company of hiding this move by changing its privacy policy a month later, which said that user information could be used for such purposes. At the same time, LinkedIn changed its FAQ section to reflect that users could choose to opt out of information sharing for AI training, but it would not affect training that already took place.

An excerpt from the lawsuit reads “LinkedIn's actions... indicate a pattern of attempting to cover its tracks.”

“This behavior suggests that LinkedIn was fully aware that it had violated its contractual promises and privacy standards and aimed to minimize public scrutiny.”

The lawsuit seeks $1,000 per user in damages for violating the federal Stored Communications Act.

“These are false claims with no merit,” said LinkedIn in a statement.

The platform possesses over one billion users globally, out of which nearly 25% hail from the US, and its Premium subscription has amassed over $1.7 billion in revenue.

In the past few days, LinkedIn also launched free AI tools for job seekers and recruiters. The Jobs Match tool offers job seekers feedback on job postings, while the AI recruitment tool helps small businesses create job posts, find suitable candidates, and sift through applications.

These tools were built using the platform’s own AI technology and data.

On a separate note, LinkedIn has been facing challenges with a rising amount of AI-generated content, where such content makes up over 50% of the content on the platform.

What do you think about LinkedIn’s privacy lawsuit?

Let us know in the comments below!