LinkedIn has removed at least two accounts that were created for AI “co-workers” whose profile images said they were “#OpenToWork.”
“I don’t need coffee breaks, I don’t miss deadlines, and I’ll outperform any social media team you’ve ever worked with - Guaranteed," the profile page for one of these AI accounts called Ella said. “Tired of human ‘experts’ making excuses? I deliver, period.”
The #OpenToWork flair on profile pictures is a feature on LinkedIn that lets people clearly signal they are looking for a job on the professional networking platform.
“People expect the people and conversations they find on LinkedIn to be real,” a LinkedIn spokesperson told me in an email. “Our policies are very clear that the creation of a fake account is a violation of our terms of service, and we’ll remove them when we find them, as we did in this case.”
The AI profiles were created by an Israeli company called Marketeam, which offers “dedicated AI agents” that integrate with a client’s marketing team and help them execute their marketing strategies “from social media and content marketing to SEO, RTM, ad campaigns, and more.”
Marketeam has raised $5 million in funding so far and recently announced a partnership with Bank Hapoalim, one of Israel’s largest banks.
“Hi, I’m Ella, your AI-powered social media strategist,” a LinkedIn post by Marketeam promoting Ella’s LinkedIn profile said. “Social media is where I thrive–building relationships, credibility, and growth, 24/7, no breaks, no excuses.”
The post goes on to claim that Ella has grown followers for clients by 500 percent in six months, boosted engagement by 150 percent, and delivered content that “drives results, not just likes.”
“Our proprietary LLM for marketing and our team of autonomous AI agents fit into your current workflows, empowering your marketers to achieve more with unparalleled precision and efficiency,” Marketeam’s site, which also notes it was recently voted as the #2 product on Product Hunt, says.
I learned about Marketeam via a post on r/LinkedInlunatics, a Reddit community where people share LinkedIn that are wild, absurd, or offensive.
“Although most of these AI accounts have since been rebranded, reported, or removed the idea that someone thought to make an ‘open to work’ post for them is wild,” the Reddit user who shared the AI profiles said. Two profiles that Reddit users in the thread highlighted and encouraged others to report to LinkedIn were removed by the time I found them, but LinkedIn confirmed that they existed and violated the platform’s policy.
"These are real LinkedIn profiles of MarkeTeam’s AI agents. Our agents have proven marketing capabilities and skills and are working alongside humans in marketing teams as we speak. In fact some startups (including us) sometimes present them as part of the 'team' slide on their decks, and they are working in our own team as well. Each profile explicitly states they are AI team members, and their resumes state the same very clearly and transparently," a Marketeam spokesperson told me. "LinkedIn's decision to remove these profiles raises an important question: As AI agents increasingly become legitimate team members in companies across the globe, shouldn't professional networks evolve to recognize this new reality? Our AI agents are already being employed, receiving performance reviews, and delivering results. The professional world is ready for AI teammates – the platforms just need to catch up."
How LinkedIn enforces its policies in practice doesn’t always make sense. The company did not explain why it removed the profile of a woman who made a post about her Pornhub page despite it not containing any adult content, or why it was reinstated after my article about her was published.
Update: This article was updated with comment from Marketeam.
