Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal has taken to X to criticise LinkedIn for removing his “pronoun illness” post for the second time. In his share, he said that by this move, the platform can remove his post but not his opinion on the matter. The deleted post was a share about the platform removing Aggarwal’s first post on his opinion about being addressed as “they” instead of “he” in a description created by the LinkedIn AI bot.
“Dear LinkedIn, you deleted my post again! This time, you didn’t even notify me or leave a trace since you removed the whole thread. Luckily my team takes screenshots. You can delete this one too but you can’t remove my opinion. Since you’re owned by Microsoft, I will be sharing my broader thoughts and some actions tomorrow with everyone,” Bhavish Aggarwal wrote. He completed his post with a screenshot of a note created by the LinkedIn AI chatbot.
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What started it all was when Aggarwal gave a prompt to the LinkedIn AI chatbot and asked it about himself. What annoyed the Ola CEO was the pronoun used by the AI bot. Instead of addressing him as “he”, it addressed him as “they”. For the unversed, the pronoun "they" is used by those who do not exclusively identify with one gender or those who want to keep it a secret.
Take a look at the post here:
{{/usCountry}}What started it all was when Aggarwal gave a prompt to the LinkedIn AI chatbot and asked it about himself. What annoyed the Ola CEO was the pronoun used by the AI bot. Instead of addressing him as “he”, it addressed him as “they”. For the unversed, the pronoun "they" is used by those who do not exclusively identify with one gender or those who want to keep it a secret.
Take a look at the post here:
{{/usCountry}}Since being shared, the post has collected more than 6.3 lakh views - and the numbers are only increasing. The share has further accumulated nearly 6,300 likes. People posted varied comments while reacting to the share.
What did X users say about this post?
“Calling all developers, designers, and entrepreneurs: Let's turn this into an opportunity. Who's ready to build the LinkedIn India deserves?” wrote an X user.
“Never thought LinkedIn would stoop so low and can't take criticism too,” added another.
“Tick tock, LinkedIn. The backlash is growing, and it won't stop. Adapt or become obsolete in India. Your choice,” joined a third.
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“Don't just complain, take action. Delete your LinkedIn account. Hit them where it hurts. They are attacking Indian companies,” expressed a fourth.
An IIT Bombay alum, Bhavish Aggarwal is the co-founder and CEO of Ola Cabs. He started his career with Microsoft Research before beginning his entrepreneurial journey in 2010, when he returned to Mumbai and co-founded Ola Cabs. Outside work, he enjoys photography, cycling, and playing squash.
What are your thoughts on this post by Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal?