Is the person you're networking with even real?
What if the company contact you thought was genuinely connecting with you on a human-to-human level in a B2B setting simply does not exist?
This scenario is becoming commonplace. When a company creates a virtual persona and giving a complex system a full name, photo, and even a LinkedIn profile, they aren't just streamlining for efficiency.
They are engaging in a deliberate misrepresentation of professional identity, undermining every claim of authenticity. This form of deception exploits the very foundation of trust that platforms like LinkedIn are built on.
The deception lies not in the use of AI, but in the human decision to exploit the social contract. When a company can't put a real person forward, what does that signal about the value of their team?
The relentless pursuit of systemic efficiency is colliding with the ethical imperative of authenticity. Undisclosed efficiency is rapidly turning into a compliance risk (hello, EU AI Act).
In this article on Faux Human Ecosystems, we explore why and how companies must consider radical transparency over synthetic advantage.