There are a lot more AI entities attempting to join your professional network on LinkedIn these days.

From conversational tools for recruiters to newly announced AI-augmented learning features, the Microsoft-owned jobs platform is taking full advantage of its parent company’s AI resources. This week, LinkedIn said it will make its various AI tools generally available to its Premium subscribers.

The rollout comes at a time when it seems like one can’t navigate any online platform without stumbling upon an AI feature freshly jammed into it. Big Tech companies like Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft are all attempting to suss out where the latest wave of generative AI might best play a role in user experience.

But LinkedIn VP of Engineering Prashanthi Padmanabhan told us she sees this latest wave of generative models as an extension of AI that has already governed the updates feed, personalized guidance, and other parts of LinkedIn’s platform in the background for years.

Perhaps more so than other social platforms, LinkedIn users tend to have clearly defined roles—job seeker, recruiter, marketer—and goals for their usage. Padmanabhan said LinkedIn is looking to add generative AI strategically in places that help save time on achieving those objectives, often through written communication or profile enhancement. “Those are the places where I think this technology is becoming very, very handy for us,” she said.

Keep reading here.—PK

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The United Auto Workers reached a tentative agreement on a contract for workers at an Ohio battery plant—a milestone the union hopes will help establish a precedent for the EV battery sector.

Last week, the union announced a deal with Ultium Cells, the GM and LG Energy Solution joint venture that makes batteries for GM’s EVs.

In a statement, UAW Local 1112 Shop Chairman Josh Ayers said that workers at the Lordstown, Ohio, plant “want this agreement to become a cornerstone for current and future battery plants across the nation.”

The agreement, which must be ratified by members, covers about 1,600 workers. It would give many a 30% raise over three years, a $3,000 ratification bonus, time and a half pay after 10 hours, and additional staff focused on health and safety, per the union. In a letter to workers, UAW President Shawn Fain said most would see an immediate raise of $3.59 per hour.

“This agreement is a game changer for the electric vehicle battery industry,” he wrote, “and for the future of Lordstown and towns like it all across this country.”

Keep reading here.—JG

Everything’s bigger in Texas, as they say, including—apparently—data breach litigation.

The Lone Star State will host a consolidated 30 lawsuits over AT&T’s dark-web data breach, which affected more than 7 million current customers and 65 million former account-holders.

The consumer-protection claims against the telecom giant have been piling up across the country since March, when details about the leak first became public. The June 5 decision to handle all the lawsuits in the same venue, the Northern District of Texas, comes from a class-action management body aimed at streamlining similar claims.

The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation found that the cases all “involve common questions of fact” that would be most conveniently decided in Dallas, where AT&T’s headquarters is located.

Keep reading here.—KG

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