LinkedIn started using user posts and profile data to train its AI models in late 2024, and yes, you can opt out — but the setting is buried in your account preferences under 'Data for Generative AI Improvement' and it's turned on by default.
This caught a lot of people off guard, and I get why it feels invasive. Essentially, LinkedIn sees the millions of articles, comments, and posts published on its platform as a goldmine for training models that can write better job descriptions, suggest smarter connections, and generate content ideas. From their perspective, it's the same playbook other platforms are running: if you're not paying for the product, you are the product.
The practical impact? Your writing style, industry knowledge, and professional opinions could influence how LinkedIn's AI tools generate content for other users. It's not that your posts are being copied verbatim — the AI learns patterns, not paragraphs — but the principle bothers plenty of people.
To turn it off, go to Settings & Privacy > Data Privacy > Data for Generative AI Improvement and toggle it off. This won't delete any training that already happened, but it stops future use. The bigger conversation here is about how many tools are quietly training on user data.
Microsoft does something similar with its AI features in Office, and Adobe faced backlash for the same reason. If you're creating content you plan to monetize or publish elsewhere, you might want to write it outside LinkedIn first, then cross-post. That way you control the original. For a deeper dive, see our guide on AI content copyright and legal issues.