18/05/2026

LYFE MONDAY | MAY 18, 2026

23 Study: LinkedIn second most cited source in AI answers

L INKEDIN is the second most cited source by artificial intelligence (AI) models, second only to YouTube, according to new research from online media, social and consumer intelligence company Meltwater. An analysis of 9.5 million AI citations across 16 business-to business (B2B) categories using Meltwater’s GenAI Lens reveals the content that AI platforms prioritise, and why authentic, expert-driven content is emerging as a critical driver of B2B brand visibility. How AI changes way info is found AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude and Microsoft Copilot are fundamentally changing how people search for and consume information. When people turn to AI assistants for recommendations, research or decision-making, the brands and products highlighted – or omitted – directly influence awareness, reputation and buying behaviour. In fact, research from 6sense shows 94% of B2B buyers use large

noticed by the algorithm. 0 Structured content performs best The most frequently cited LinkedIn content, including articles and posts, consistently feature clear formatting (bullet points, numbered lists), strong headings, named entities and quantitative data. 0 AI rewards relevance over reach More than half of citations (51%) came from members with less than 10k followers, showing how AI models prioritise clarity, expertise and usefulness over popularity alone. 0 LinkedIn dominates tech, professional services, fintech and marketing

teen accounts. The European Commission recently accused Meta of failing to adequately protect young people. Brussels has demanded Instagram and Facebook implement a minimum age of 13, failing which it could impose a large fine. Over the longer term, the Commission is requiring all social media platforms to use an EU app for age verification. Meta, however, advocates centralised age verification when setting up a smartphone at the operating system or app store level, rather than leaving verification to each separate app. Discussions are ongoing in EU countries such as Austria, France and Spain on a complete social media ban for young people from a certain age, with 15 or 16 being considered. Australia has already imposed a ban of this kind. The European Commission has thus far rejected an outright ban in favour of stricter technical verification. – Bernama-dpa The platform performs especially well where questions are professional, technical or decision driven, ranking LinkedIn in the top five in citations for B2B searches across key industries, including technology and software as a service, consulting and professional services, financial services and fintech, marketing and advertising and human resources and talent. 0 Third-party and user-generated content have an edge Platforms such as LinkedIn, Reddit and YouTube account for 47.5% of AI citations, compared with 15% from peer review sites and 18.7% from company websites.

o Tech changes how people find, consume information presented by virtual assistants

LinkedIn that influence what AI models choose to cite. Several key patterns emerged, including: 0 Individual voices drive the majority of visibility 75% of LinkedIn citations came from individual member profiles and 25% come from company pages. While individual member content tends to get cited more often, balancing between individual and corporate content remains important to be

language models during their buying process. As AI becomes a primary source of information, optimising for visibility inside AI-generated answers is no longer optional and LinkedIn is critical to a brand being discoverable in AI search. Content AI models prioritise This research breaks down the specific signals and content types on

Meta creates feature to auto remove kids from social media

US tech giant Meta announced recently it plans to use AI to verify the ages of its young users, with a view to removing children under 13, reported German Press Agency (dpa). The AI-supported software will analyse not only text-based profile data but also the context of images, comments and videos (reels) on the company’s platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp. Where the software detects balloons or an 11th birthday party cake, the account will be rated as a child’s account and deleted upon confirmation, the company said. Those affected will be able to contest decisions and provide proof of age through identity documents. Meta will also use AI to identify teenagers up to the age of 17 who have misrepresented themselves as adult, evaluating behavioural patterns, including the accounts they follow. Where a fake age is detected, the profiles will be switched to

Over a quarter of people in developed countries use a generative AI tool. – 123RFPIC

Machine learning use surges globally but rich-poor divide widens, Microsoft says

GENERATIVE artificial intelligence (AI) is being used by 17.8% of the world’s working-age population, but the gap between wealthy and developing nations continues to ever widen, according to a comprehensive report published recently by Microsoft. In the first quarter of 2026, 27.5% of people aged 15–64 in developed countries used a generative AI tool, compared with 15.4% in the developing world – a gap that widened by 1.5% from the second half of 2025, according to the report’s estimates. The divide stems from significant inequality in access to internet connectivity, basic digital skills and electricity, according to the Microsoft AI Economy Institute. AI model performance – historically stronger in English as

models such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini – ranked only 21st, at 31.3%. AI usage in China – the world’s second-largest economy which is jostling with US for an edge in the AI race – was 16.4%, the report said. Pushing back against fears of job losses driven by automation, Microsoft argued in the report AI coding tools “could increase demand for developer jobs.” The company cautioned, however, “it is still too early to know the full impact” of AI on the labour market. For the first time in its history, the company itself offered voluntary departures to nearly 9,000 of its US based employees in April. According to Layoffs.fyi, a private aggregator, nearly 99,000 people have been laid off in the tech sector since Jan 1, primarily in US. – AFP

most of the major AI companies are based in the US – is also slowing the spread of such tools in non-English speaking countries. But progress in processing non European languages is fuelling a catch-up in adoption in some countries, particularly in Asia, the US tech giant noted. The United Arab Emirates tops the ranking of AI usage at 70.1%, followed by Singapore, Norway, Ireland and France. The estimates were based primarily on measurements from computers running Windows and Microsoft products such as Bing and Copilot. They only partially captured usage on Apple devices and consolidated data was lacking for Russia, Iran and China. US – home to dominant large AI

Meta’s new AI features analyses user posts to determine if the user may be underaged. – 123RFPIC