Has AI Ruined Networking?

I was doomscrolling on LinkedIn, seeing a college freshman landing Jane Street and a vibe coder getting a $25 million Series B fundraising, while I was eating Chick-fil-A.

I mean to say, I came across this post that conflicted me about using AI in networking. I encourage you to fully read the post, and I'm going to give my takes on it. I also want to make clear that I don't have anything against the creator of this post or the comments. I just wanted to give my own two cents, and I appreciate the viewpoint.

The reason this post hits close to home is because I made a LinkedIn post about how networking has been the key differentiator for me in standing out in the job search. I heard back from various startups and big companies because I simply reached out rather than hoping for the best by only cold applying to jobs. I still do that, but networking made my search 10x better.

However, there are so many different people to reach out to via emailing, LinkedIn, and in-person events, and it becomes difficult when you have to convey your point across by making messages super personal and super detail-oriented. Yes, you have to do that and not let AI do all the work, but when you are trying to connect with 100+ people, it's impossible to make every message you send articulated correctly.

Using AI is mostly for speed and clarity when it comes to networking. Asking SWEs for advice, recruiters to check your resume, or managers to give business advice tends to have the same template of message. Handwriting every single message entirely without checking it may be 100% human, but it's also time-consuming, not efficient, and doesn't guarantee a better response.

I've sent out quite a few messages, and whenever someone responds, 9 times out of 10, it's never because of the quality of the message but simply because the person just isn't willing to help out or couldn't help out.

People throw the word "slop" around, but using AI doesn't make messages or content slop, in my opinion. You still have to craft the message, have the right intent, and convey your points. If you ask AI to 100% write the message, and you just command C, command V, that's a completely different story. That's slop.

If I spend 10-20 minutes crafting the perfect message for every person I'm trying to connect with, not only will I get 10x lower response rates, but I also just wasted a bunch of time.

Usually, the saying is Quality > Quantity. However, I believe Quantity > Quality when it comes to networking.

I just don't believe a person should judge another person for using AI when it's being pushed everywhere, and every company is throwing that word around. It becomes a lose-lose situation because if you use AI, people will clown you, and if you don't use AI, you are being stupid because you aren't being efficient.

The main argument for this LinkedIn post was that using AI removes the human element. While this does make sense because you are networking with another person, not Claude, I still think the initial message having some AI lingo or being more clear doesn't make it any less genuine. Usually, it's just to get in the door and let the person sending the initial message take over from there.

My last point is when does AI become slop?

This whole post was written by me. I always write my blog posts, books, and LinkedIn posts on my Google Doc with a bunch of spelling mistakes, and I have a GPT chat where I ask it to only fix my grammatical errors and flow problems, but not change my voice or words.

Is that slop? Some people might genuinely read this whole post and think I used AI, and hence all my points are not mine and not valid. I also think people don't like polished work for some reason but will also be the first ones to point out a spelling mistake.

When it comes to using AI for networking, be genuine and don't remove your voice. If you use AI for speed and clarity, what's the harm?