LinkedIn will soon train AI models with data from European users
72 comments
·September 22, 2025rckt
Igrom
Thanks. This should have been _opt in_, and not opt out, regardless of any LinkedIn newsletter emails that automatically go to the garbage bin.
amelius
Surprised the EU did not make "opt in" the mandatory default for something like this.
pred_
Unlawful processing of data is absolutely not “opt out” by default, and simply assuming that “legitimate interest” applies does not mean that you can allow on opt out.
Here's just a quick reminder that if you're a LinkedIn user based in an EU member state, and if you do not believe that “legitimate interest” applies, you can file a complaint with your national supervisory authority (SA)/data protection authority (DPA); see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_data_protection_autho...
RegW
I'm not in the EU but I am in Europe. It was on for me.
From my reading of the article, this is Linkedin (an American company) that has decided to collect data about Europeans - the EU is not involved. Linkedin has decided that making it opt-out is covered by "legitimate interests". So I guess the real issue here is that the rest of you just don't get the option - you are included anyway.
nwellnhof
Making this feature opt-out is a clear violation of the GDPR. Linkedin claims they have a "legitimate interest" in collecting this data for AI training without consent, but this argument is laughable.
thrance
I wish it did, but I am not surprised it does not. The EU remains a fundamentally pro-business organization at its core.
PunchyHamster
Legislation for the AI slop will take few years probably
torcete
Thanks. I hate to need to use linkedIn to find a job. This was the cherry on top of the cake.
benterix
I noticed some companies ask for a LI profile, and sometimes this field is mandatory. SO a few years ago I created an empty LI profile, just saying "consultant" started 20 years ago.
Strangely enough, it wasn't a problem at all. They'd still call me, interview me and make an offer. So I believe people overestimate the importance of LI, at least for some cases.
This is an important issue from me because it's the only so-called "social" site that seems somewhat enforced by the system we're living in, so it has been abused in various ways as people believe they have no choice but to share the details related to their education, past and present employment with the general public.
6LLvveMx2koXfwn
When I applied for my last job[0], they asked for a LI profile - I explained I didn't have one and why (data privacy concerns) on the application.
0. now my current job!
pandemic_region
Except it was never a cake to begin with.
masfuerte
And it's not a cherry. It's undigested sweetcorn.
sunnybeetroot
I am not in the EU and it was disabled by default
sschueller
Thank you.
OtherShrezzing
As far as I can tell, LinkedIn's content is already 99% LLM generated posts.
The resulting models might be a terrible hybrid distillation of GPT5 and Claude with a strong preference for hustle culture & banal parables.
devoutsalsa
Evolution of LinkedIn posts over time...
"Should you choose to inscribe the lexical designation 'DOMINATE' within the commentary section, I shall subsequently furnish you with my proprietary methodology for accumulating substantial financial wealth in the millions."
"Comment the word DOMINATE and I'll share my secret method for making millions of dollars."
"yo if u type DOMINATE in comments ill tell u how 2 get mad rich like millions n stuff fr fr no cap"
sixtyj
Idiocracy movie as a template? :)
Toorkit
DOMINATE
jgalt212
Seriously, I cannot fathom any real benefit that LinkedIn would accrue from training on the pathologically upbeat pablum posted by its users and bots acting on behalf of its users.
Tade0
I have at least one contact who focuses exclusively on pushing his libertarian views with a side of particularly conservative talking points. Honestly I'm curious to find out how the mix of that and what you described looks.
verandaguy
Frankly, at this point, I’m here for an AI feedback loop leading into model collapse.
Let it burn.
elzbardico
So, soon we will see AI generated job descriptions for American companies offering 6-month paternity leave and 30 days/year paid vacations?
fnordian_slip
I know it's a rather privileged thing to say, but I just passed up a job opportunity because I don't want to get back to 30 paid vacation days. Once you get used to 47 (took a voluntary paycut of 5 percent for 12 extra days), where you get so many side projects done because you have the time, it's hard to go back to the normal 28-35. So I have no idea why the US rarely goes above 20 or whatever they have.
dspillett
I dropped to a four-day week (with 20% pay drop so in the same ballpark as your 5% for 12 days off) for stress reasons “temporarily” almost exactly two years ago. The burnout problem is finally looking like it might permanently recede (family health matters are much more stable, some work matters have been addressed, I've sorted a few personal things out, some external problems have been fixed or just told to fuck off, etc.) but I think I'm going to stick with the four days week as long as I can.
The extra money would be very useful to me right now, but I'm surviving without it and the three-day weekend is really working for me. I'm even finding time to relearn a second language on case the UK follows the US too far down the full-fash route and I feel the need to get out of dodge [I refuse to be the sort of Brit who rocks up everywhere expecting everyone to speak English!].
Vinnl
Off topic, but less than a decade ago paternity leave in the Netherlands was just two days, and it's still nowhere near six months, unfortunately.
slu
In Denmark there's 4 weeks for the mother (right after giving birth) and then 24 weeks for the mother and their partner each, i.e., a total of 52 weeks. It's also possible to transfer weeks between the parents.
lionkor
The companies want the FREEDOM to mistreat employees FREELY.
welho
Perhaps this will fix the work-life balance for American people in the long term.
thimabi
These days LinkedIn is a cesspool of AI-generated feel-good “inspirational” content anyway… I don’t see anything good coming out of training models from its user data.
unglaublich
"I am so grateful for the opportunity to help you with a recipe for guacamole today. It is a humbling, educational experience and I am looking forward to collaborating on with you. Please be aware that I am still open to an interesting occupation in my field and I welcome any referrals."
zelphirkalt
I've said this elsewhere: The EU should crack down on this. Opt-out is not acceptable behavior.
Havoc
I wish them the best of luck with that.
Short of 4chan it's hard to think of a worse dataset. Do you really want a model trained on corporate thought leader gibberish?
em-bee
yes, so you can produce more corporate thought leader gibberish.
heikkilevanto
Glad I never had an account on LinkedIn
zenmac
Wish I was like you. I have NOT touched them since MS acquisition. And now I don't have access to the email linked with the account anymore. Guess they are just gonna train the *it out of my data. Really really regret signing up for that service.
pandemic_region
I can get you an invite if you want
senko
> The company says it will rely on “legitimate interests” as its legal basis and will offer an opt-out so members can refuse use of their data for training
"Legitimate interest" is a very specific term in context of GDPR. Not a lawyer, but have been looking into it previously, and I doubt "we want to feed data to our AI so we can make more money" passes the Legitimate Interest Assesment (LIA) test.
Here's an example of a test that must pass (sorry, docx, but way better than a random explainer): https://ico.org.uk/media2/for-organisations/forms/2258435/gd...
tgsovlerkhgsel
That looks like it would be easy to argue that it passes (claiming "makes the platform better for everyone", "not achievable without using the data", "the data is data that the people share voluntarily on the platform and isn't sensitive", "they're customers, we e-mailed them and they could opt out if they cared", "we expect this to have no impact on the individuals" (until the AI starts regurgitating sensitive details, but that's an "oops" for later), and "we are offering an opt-out even though we wouldn't have to" (claimed despite the lawyer strongly urging an opt-out, otherwise they wouldn't have even offered that).
senko
[delayed]
lionkor
GDPR doesn't allow "they knew and they could have opted out if they cared". You need explicit written consent.
tgsovlerkhgsel
GDPR allows processing based either on consent (which doesn't need to be "written" but does need to be explicit and informed) or legitimate interest (or some other reasons that tend to be irrelevant for this kind of thing).
Legitimate interest does NOT require consent, is murky, and thus often gets used to justify things that should not exist under GDPR but the most likely consequence is that the company gets to do it for 3+ years before being told "no, you can't do that anymore"...
PunchyHamster
but they will absolutely want to sell it to 3rd parties, else what's the point ?
mhitza
The GDPR is about personal data though. And content your produce is not by nature personal data "in abstract".
That content could contain personal data (such as when including it in your post), but that's an exception rather than a norm. And if we'd be following exceptions, even crawling websites could be illegal under the GDPR.
untrimmed
The part that really gets me is that opting out doesn't affect models already trained on my data. It kinda feels like closing the barn door after the horse has already bolted.
intellectronica
Maybe it will finally start recommending better cheese. My feed is so boring.
toolis
i'm excited to find out what AI will learn about b2b sales from all the cringe posts.
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blitzar
This is an incredibly dangerous development - when Ai learns the grind and hustle it is going to accelerate the timeline to Judgement day.
Only the people with the right grindset that do a 4am ice face bath will survive.
You can opt out here: https://www.linkedin.com/mypreferences/m/settings/data-for-a...