Online professional networking giant LinkedIn is continuing its mission to offer verification labels for more users through programmes that link them to their workplace or verify their government ID. Still, the Microsoft-owned platform is now looking to verify users’ AI skills.
The new feature will enable professionals to demonstrate their proficiency with various AI tools, rather than merely listing generic skills on their profiles. However, because verification will be based on real usage and not self-reported claims, only a select few partners will be backing up these badges.
Descript, Lovable, Relay.app and Replit have emerged as the first ones in supporting LinkedIn’s initiative, with Gamma and Zapier scheduled to join at a later date, along with Microsoft-owned GitHub.
Partner companies will actually use AI to assess users’ AI proficiency, based on actual product usage and results. The social networking platform says this is a must in today’s labour market, with AI proficiency now the most in-demand skill. LinkedIn also noted that the jobs market is shifting towards this skills-first model, rather than overly focusing on formal degrees.
With the badges, job seekers will be able to stand out, and recruiters will be able to identify genuine capability even more quickly. It’s unclear whether these badges will be factored into filtering tools.
More broadly, LinkedIn says that more than 100 million of its users have now verified their accounts. The Microsoft-owned platform met this target just days before its deadline in December 2025, when the company declared it wants every member, job and company to have at least one type of verification.
According to the company, verified members see close to 60% more profile views, apart from getting up to 50% more engagement on posts compared to their non-verified counterparts. Organisations also see benefits, with verified businesses seeing 10.9 times more views and getting 7.7x more followers.
“When Product VP Oscar Rodriguez first confirmed plans to hit 100 million verified users in October 2023, the company only had around 18 million verified accounts. LinkedIn has also revealed plans to launch a self-serve API to help developers integrate trust signals (like identity and workplace) into apps, sites, and other platforms, which will allow users to display their LinkedIn verification status across other sites,” Techradar Pro reported in December 2025.