'Time travel' on LinkedIn: job seekers are retroactively adding AI skills to old roles

More and more job seekers are retroactively editing their LinkedIn profiles to add artificial intelligence to their work history. Research from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) finds that applicants are going back and adding modern AI terms to roles they left years ago — well before the ChatGPT boom. Researchers call this trend "time traveling."

The 'time travel' phenomenon on LinkedIn

For the study, researchers, working with data company Revelio Labs, analyzed monthly snapshots of LinkedIn profiles between 2020 and 2026. They found that nearly one in five established U.S. LinkedIn users had retroactively edited the title or description of a role they had already left.

The median gap before making such an edit is 4.5 years after someone left a role. Some changes go back much further: researchers saw users adding AI skills to jobs from 2012. According to Nicholas Bloom, a professor of economics at Stanford University and co-author of the study, it's unlikely these skills were actually being applied at the time.

A digital arms race

The sharp rise in AI-related keywords like "LLM," "GPT," and "artificial intelligence" began in late 2022, after OpenAI introduced ChatGPT. Since then, employer demand for AI knowledge has exploded. According to a ZipRecruiter survey, nearly three-quarters of employers see AI skills as a major advantage or even a requirement. Indeed data also shows that the number of job titles mentioning "AI" has more than tripled since 2022.

Researchers found that the rate of "time traveling" on LinkedIn doubles right before people switch jobs. Applicants are trying to get past recruiters' first screening rounds this way. Bloom calls it an "arms race" on both sides: employers are being flooded with applications, while job seekers add buzzwords so they don't get filtered out by automated systems.

Notable outliers and honest advice

The biggest outlier in the study was the role of "AI product manager." About 70 percent of people with this title made changes only after they had already left the position. In many cases it's unclear whether these are legitimate clarifications or exaggerations meant to improve their chances in the current job market.

While regularly updating a profile is sensible, experts warn against inventing qualifications. Jeff Hyman, CEO of Recruit Rockstars, advises periodically updating a LinkedIn profile with factual achievements and measurable results. Bloom stresses that a thorough profile definitely helps with visibility, as long as the information listed is completely truthful.