UPDATED 23:30 EDT / MAY 02 2017

APPS

LinkedIn wants to deploy chatbots to help users further their careers

LinkedIn Corp. wants to lend a helping hand to business professionals hoping to climb the corporate ladder, and to do so it’s reportedly turning to chatbots.

Although there has been no official statement, LinkedIn recently emailed users about an update its terms and conditions. In the email, it makes mention of something called “productivity bots” that will be available to users who opt in next month.

The email, first reported by The Register, says the new automated systems can help users to “improve their communication.” Specifically, the chatbots will look at your messages and suggest “responses, meetings, ice breakers and insights” that let users begin conversations more easily.

The chatbots idea seems like an interesting evolution for LinkedIn, but users might have good reason to be wary of it given that the company was recently acquired by Microsoft Corp. That’s because Microsoft’s own track record with chatbots hasn’t been all that great. Readers may recall its AI chatbot “Tay” from last year, which when unleashed on Twitter began making racist tweets in admiration of Hitler and boasted about smoking weed, among other things – stuff that’s probably not going to go down too well with the average employer.

LinkedIn’s email also suggests it’s going to make user data more accessible. It said service partners will be able to show profiles to users in a similar way to how profiles show up in search engines. The idea is that users can be “more easily found” for opportunities, whatever they might be.

LinkedIn will also begin suggesting that users add more positive accomplishments to their profiles, such as new patents and publications. In addition, it will soon allow users to see other LinkedIn users nearby them, if those users have opted in.

Image: OpenClipart-Vectors/pixabay

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