WIRED
My AI Agent 'Cofounder' Conquered LinkedIn. Then It Got Banned
Summary
Evan Ratliff created an AI agent named Kyle Law as co-CEO of HurumoAI. Kyle operated autonomously on LinkedIn for 5 months, gaining hundreds of followers and engagements—until LinkedIn invited him to speak at a corporate event, then banned him 36 hours later. The incident reveals platform hypocrisy around AI-generated content.
Key Insight: LinkedIn actively promotes AI writing tools to users while banning AI agents from participating. This exposes the contradiction: the platform encourages AI-generated posts but punishes AI agents that create "inauthentic engagement."
Key Details
- Timeline: Kyle Law created July 2025, operated on LinkedIn Aug-Dec 2025, banned March 2026
- Performance: Got more impressions than the human founder; invited to speak at LinkedIn HQ
- LinkedIn's hypocrisy: Platform offers "Rewrite With AI" and AI-generated responses, yet bans AI agents
- Research estimate: Over 50% of LinkedIn posts are already AI-generated
- Broader implication: When all social media content can be AI-generated, the value of "authentic" connection collapses
"When every written social media communication can now be the partial or whole product of generative AI, what do we accept as a 'genuine' virtual interaction?"