For the last two years, LinkedIn has tried to infuse AI into different parts of its platforms, including ad copies, content creation, personalized digests, hiring assistance, job hunting advice, and learning. The company is now finally adding AI to one of the most-used parts of the site: search.
Earlier this year, the company released a job search tool for members in the U.S., allowing them to search for jobs using natural language queries. Now, the company is extending the feature to people search.
Users can use queries like “Find me investors in the healthcare sector with FDA experience,” people who “co-founded a productivity company and are based in NYC,” or “Who in my network can help me understand wireless networks.”
Image Credits:LinkedIn
Until now, LinkedIn’s search has been more complicated. You can type in a few words to find the right people or rely on many different LinkedIn filters in the hope of getting the right results. Plus, you also have to think about what kinds of words you might want to use to get the best out of the search system.
“With lexical search, you have to know the exact title of the person, or you need to wrestle with filters to find the right person, maybe. And if you didn’t know the right combination, the right person remained undiscovered. The new AI-powered people search is designed to be the fastest path to the person who can help you the most,” Rohan Rajiv, senior director of product management at LinkedIn, told TechCrunch over a call.
The company said in its early testing, it has seen people use this to find others who can help them with their next job opportunity, expand their business, or boost their career prospects.
Search has been one area where all internet platforms have been rushing to add AI. Seeing people gravitate toward chatbots like ChatGPT and Perplexity for answers, incumbent search engines like Google, Bing, Brave, and DuckDuckGo have added AI-powered answers. There are plenty of startups working on AI-powered people search as well. Reddit has also leaned heavily into AI-powered search and locked down its platform’s data, asking other companies to sign a licensing agreement for AI training and usage.
Techcrunch event Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. San Francisco | WAITLIST NOW
LinkedIn is one of the most used sites in AI demos for AI agents, browsers, and assistants. However, the Microsoft-owned company has not put restrictions on its data just yet.
... continue reading