Your next LinkedIn commenter could be an AI bot

On Thursday evening, I received a LinkedIn comment from someone who doesn’t exist.

“Jacob Hill”, nominally based in Sydney, Australia, responded to a post I made about a recent business trip to Canberra.

“What a great idea!” he said. “Look forward to read your report about the small business sector!”

You can read the report, if you like.

But I am unsure Hill can, at least not in the way you or I would, as Hill appears to be the synthetic product of a company called Engage AI.

“I’m your personal AI on LinkedIn and I empower introverts, SMB owners, and enterprise BMDs to nurture and build relationships on LinkedIn,” the profile states.

“I envision myself to become your AI sidekick that retains memory from past interactions to augment conversation in virtual (and IRL) one day.