LinkedIn’s new anti-slop button is coming to every platform
LinkedIn knows it has a slop problem. It has a button for that. The button, which debuted the week of July 27 , allows users to flag content on LinkedIn that they believe may be “ AI slop.” The option appears in a three-dot menu in the top right of any post, and shows a diamond with an exclamation point, followed by the phrase, “Seems like AI slop.” In a post to the platform on July 30, Hari…
LinkedIn is combating the surge of AI-generated content on its platform with the introduction of an "AI slop" button, set to roll out across all its platforms. The feature, announced on July 30, allows users to flag posts they suspect of being AI-produced by displaying a diamond with an exclamation point and the phrase, "Seems like AI slop."
LinkedIn's Chief Product Officer, Hari Srinivasan, revealed that the button will assist the company in refining its algorithms to surface better content. This initiative is part of LinkedIn's broader strategy to eliminate what it terms "AI slop" or "generally low-quality content," effectively employing an AI-versus-AI methodology to separate original, insightful posts from those that merely replicate existing thoughts.
With AI content increasingly dominating social media, platforms like LinkedIn are challenged with bringing human-centric ideas to the forefront. This issue has affected numerous websites, with a July study by AI detection service Pangram indicating that one in four long-form posts on LinkedIn, Medium, X, Reddit, and Substack were flagged as AI over the past two months, with two-thirds of these flagged posts originating from LinkedIn alone.
Despite being a hotspot for AI slop, LinkedIn is not alone in grappling with this problem; the entire internet is experiencing a similar surge. In June, Cloudflare reported that bots now account for 57.5% of web page requests, further substantiating the "dead internet theory," which posits that a significant portion of online activity today is generated by non-human entities.
Platforms are actively grappling with this influx of automated content, and while there are no clear-cut solutions, they are exploring various strategies. LinkedIn's new "Seems like AI slop" button represents one such approach, providing users with a straightforward way to report potentially AI-generated posts. LinkedIn's design team placed the button within the context of content feedback, making it easily accessible without seeming like a formal report.
The company remains open to exploring other visual indicators based on user feedback. As brands navigate this new landscape, offering users more control over AI moderation is proving to be an innovative solution to an increasingly complex problem.
Written by urgent.news from Fast Company's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
