Microsoft-owned LinkedIn will use your data for training AI, unless you opt-out

Companies have two options when they introduce new features: make them opt-in or opt-out. The first is the user-friendly option, as users may select to use a new feature or allow the company to do something. The second is the opposite. It benefits the company, as all users are rolled in and users needing to become active to avoid a change.
This is true for a change on Microsoft-owned LinkedIn. Microsoft plans to start using user data on Linkedn for AI training starting November 3, 2025. The kicker: all users are opted in. Means, if you do not become active, your data will be used to train generative AI.
Microsoft writes: “Starting November 3, 2o25, we’ll use some of your LinkedIn data to improve the content-generating AI that enhances your experience, unless you opt out in your settings”.
So, there is an opt-out and Microsoft apparently is also emailing users of the service about the change.
The change affects users worldwide. However, users from the European Economic Area, Switzerland, and the UK won’t have their data “made available to certain LinkedIn affiliates (such as Microsoft) for training generative AI models without further notice” according to a help document we spotted on the LinkedIn website.
Opting out of LinkedIn’s use of data for AI training

The only option that you have is to opt-out of the collecting and using of your data. This is done on the LinkedIn website and works the following way:

Open the main LinkedIn website.
Sign-in to your account.

If you have multiple accounts, you need to perform the steps for each account separately.

Activate Me > Settings & Privacy at the top to launch the preferences.
Switch to Data privacy when the page has loaded.
Click on Data for Generative AI Improvement.
Toggle “Use my data for training content creation AI models” to off.

Tip: you may be able to jump straight to the setting by following this link.
Closing Words
Companies love to enable new and sometimes controversial features for all users, only giving them an opt-out option. This ensures that the majority of users will have a certain feature enabled automatically.
This is not the first time that Microsoft is making controversial features opt-out instead of opt-in. When it first launched the AI feature Recall in Windows 11, it made the feature opt-out, which meant that it would run on all user devices that support it automatically.
Now You: are you affected by the change? What is your take on opt-out versus opt-in when introducing features, especially controversial ones? Feel free to leave a comment down below.
Thank you for being a Ghacks reader. The post Microsoft-owned LinkedIn will use your data for training AI, unless you opt-out appeared first on gHacks Technology News.