LinkedIn appoints Deepak Agarwal as its AI chief

Professional networking platform LinkedIn has appointed Deepak Agarwal as its new chief AI officer (CAIO). Agarwal will be leading AI innovations with focus on ethics and human-centricity.

This is Agarwal’s second stint at LinkedIn. The first time, he was the vice president of engineering and AI, serving eight years in the role. During his time at LinkedIn, he played a key role in developing AI innovations at a massive scale, which has been serving as the foundation for much of the company’s AI efforts today, the company said in a statement.

“This is my second stint leading AI at LinkedIn, with my last tour being VP of AI for 8 years where our team developed remarkable innovations at massive scale that serve as the foundation for much of the company’s AI efforts today,” he wrote in a LinkedIn post.

“AI is at the heart of everything we do - from personalizing member experiences to help them grow their knowledge and access to opportunity, to empowering businesses, and fostering meaningful professional relationships.”

Agarwal brings over 24 years of experience in engineering and AI roles, having previously held leadership positions at Pinterest and Yahoo. He has a doctorate in statistics from the University of Connecticut. 

In November 2023, the Microsoft-owned platform announced a range of generative AI features allowing users to optimise functions such as writing posts, creating a professional profile, applying and hiring for jobs, upskilling, and networking for its premium members. To be sure, LinkedIn Daniel Shapero said in a Reuters interview that the premium subscribers increased by 25% in 2023, helping the company hit $1.7 billion in revenue from such subscriptions. The company executive said that an uptick in AI feature adoption has played a role in this growth.