Coming Soon: I was Replaced by LinkedIn AI Recruiter

Happy Friday, Job Board Doctor friends. AI is replacing HR and TA. Recruiters will begin to train the LinkedIn AI Recruiter bot—for free. This week in talent tech, buckle up.

Let’s do this.

AI Agents are coming for HR and TA

Klarna, Duolingo, and IBM

Let’s kick things off with a couple of stats that should make every talent pro perk up.

The World Economic Forum says 40% of employers expect to reduce their workforce thanks to tech.

And KPMG’s latest Pulse Survey? It shows companies are shifting fast — piloting AI agents jumped from 37% to 65% in just one quarter.

But actual deployment? Still stuck at 11%.

Why only 11%? Because we’re not fully in robot overlord territory… yet. Sure, manufacturing is nearly there (hello, dark factories in China where the lights stay off until a human walks in), but white-collar automation still has a ways to go.

KLARNA Klarna’s big AI replacement headline felt more like a PR grab to juice its IPO valuation. If you ask me, that kind of stunt should come with consequences—like a swift boot, a few SEC questions, and maybe even a jumpsuit in federal orange.

DUOLINGO Duolingo’s announcement? Baffling. They already displaced countless language teachers just by existing. But now, by loudly declaring they’re replacing humans (again), they’ve invited the backlash they could’ve avoided by just… not saying it. Smart CEOs will replace humans quietly. Loud ones get roasted.

IBM tried to put a bow on their AI shift by saying it’s allowed them to “expand hiring in more strategic and revenue-generating roles such as programming and sales.”

THE TAKE AWAY – HR, you’re not strategic. That came straight from the CEO of IBM. And for some of you, let’s be honest—that’s your own damn fault.

If Talent Acquisition and Talent Management pros can’t connect their work to business outcomes, then yes, you’re replaceable.

Talent is the lifeblood of every organization—recruiting, retaining, developing.

If you don’t get that? Consider this a(nother) warning shot.

Recruit & Zip Numbers

INDEED “…the rate of increase in revenue per paid job ad exceeded the rate of decrease in the number of paid job ads at Indeed and Glassdoor.”

Takeaway – Companies are paying more per click for fewer ads.

But here’s the kicker — “Job advertising revenue declined primarily due to the shift to Indeed Plus.”

Also heating up: Indeed’s disposition data capture and their new Premium service for job seekers. Think: pay-to-play for better profile visibility.

Jeffrey Inman from Distillery Labs had some thoughts (read: a full rant) about the new Premium job seeker feature.

ZIP And then there’s ZipRecruiter. Honestly, I’m out of new ways to say this: the board is letting everyone drown while the stock tanks. At this point, keeping the CEO in the chair feels like neglect.

LinkedIn AI Recruiters

LinkedIn isn’t charging extra for their new AI recruiter tools.

Let me repeat: No extra charge??

You know what that means. When it’s free — you’re the product. Or more accurately, you’re the trainer. LinkedIn’s feeding candidate recommendations to your recruiters. And every click, scroll, message, and save trains their AI to get better.

It’s like onboarding a new hire. The AI watches how your recruiters work, then copies the behavior. Eventually? You might find yourself hiring a LinkedIn AI Recruiter for half the cost of a human.

On the job seeker side, it’s the same story. LinkedIn watches which jobs people click, spend time on, and apply to. The system learns what’s hot and what’s trash, and then uses that data to build better-performing job ads. Good for job seekers. Better for LinkedIn’s bottom line.

Shopify’s CEO said it best: “Prove AI can’t do the job before you hire a human.”