LinkedIn offers AI-powered people search to make quicker professional connections.

For the past two years, LinkedIn has been attempting to incorporate AI into many elements of its platform, such as ad text, content production, tailored updates, recruiting help, job seeking advice, and learning resources. The firm is finally bringing AI to one of its most popular features: search.

Earlier this year, LinkedIn introduced a job search service for US members that allows them to look for opportunities using natural language searches. They are currently improving this functionality to include individuals search.

Users have the ability to do searches like “Find me investors in the healthcare sector with FDA experience,” “people who co-founded a productivity company and are based in NYC,” etc. “Who in my network can help me understand wireless networks?”

Until today, LinkedIn’s search tool was more cumbersome. Users would often have to enter a few keywords to discover the correct persons, or utilize other LinkedIn filters in the hopes of getting relevant results. They also had to carefully evaluate the phrases they chose in order to make the search system as successful as possible.

Rohan Rajiv, senior director of product management at LinkedIn, told TechCrunch that “with lexical search, you have to know the precise title of the person, or you have to struggle with filters to get the appropriate person. And if you didn’t know the proper combination, the right individual went undetected. The new AI-powered persons search is intended to be the quickest route to the person who can assist you the most.”

All internet platforms are rapidly integrating AI into their search capabilities, especially as consumers increasingly rely on chatbots such as ChatGPT and Perplexity for answers. In reaction to this transition, well-known search engines such as Google, Bing, Brave, and DuckDuckGo have implemented AI-powered results. The field of AI-powered persons search is also experiencing a rise in companies.

In its early experiments, the company discovered that customers were using this function to find people who could help them with employment prospects, business development, or career progression. Meanwhile, Reddit has made a strong commitment to AI-powered search, restricting access to its platform’s data and forcing other firms to sign license agreements for AI training and usage.

Despite the high usage of LinkedIn in AI demos for AI agents, browsers, and assistants, the Microsoft-owned company has not put restrictions on its data just yet.

Rajiv mentioned that LinkedIn is still early in this age of browsers and how they are working on behalf of people, and will have a more sturdy policy (around browsers).

On a broader note, I have observed many demonstrations attempting to analyze a person’s LinkedIn network. I believe it will be challenging to find a substitute for this, as the search functionality currently leaves much to be desired.

LinkedIn is launching an AI-powered people search for premium users in the U.S., with plans to expand to other regions in the coming months. Premium users will notice “I’m looking for…” in the search bar instead of “Search.”

LinkedIn is introducing an AI-powered people search for premium users in the United States, with plans to extend to more areas in the coming months. Premium users will see “I’m looking for…” instead of “Search.”

However, the search function isn’t ideal. For example, if you search for “people who co-founded a YC startup,” the results will differ from those for “Y Combinator.” Additionally, when looking for “people who co-founded a voice AI startup,” persons with a LinkedIn Top Voice credential may appear among the results.

The business indicated that it is working on enhancing how the search tool interprets the user’s inquiry.