Are Those LinkedIn vs. X Charts Really Accurate? A Reality Check on AI-Generated Insights
- Wang Yifei
- Jul 28
- 3 min read
TL;DR
Pretty charts don’t mean accurate data.
Many AI-generated statistics are hallucinated or misleading.
Sociological claims about platforms like LinkedIn vs. X need real evidence.
Use tools like Facticity.AI to validate claims before you publish or rely on them.
Our Founder and CEO, Dennis Yap—the visionary behind Facticity.AI—recently came across a widely circulated AI-generated analysis comparing LinkedIn and X. The charts were undeniably beautiful. But as with many things in the AI age, good design doesn’t always guarantee truthful data. Digging deeper into the statistics behind these visuals, Dennis found something surprising.
Take this striking claim, for example:
“83.8% of LinkedIn active users have at least a university degree.”
Sounds credible? In reality, it’s a textbook case of secondary hallucination—a confidently presented falsehood generated by AI tools without proper sourcing or verification.
The truth? According to the most reliable sources, including LinkedIn’s own user data and Sprout Social, the actual figure is closer to 52%—not 83.8%. That’s a significant discrepancy, and it highlights exactly why fact-checking tools like Facticity.AI are more important than ever.
This questionable data point prompted Dennis to reflect on the direction generative AI chatbots are taking in their quest to sound more human. Perhaps you've already tried one of these so-called GPT consultants to generate marketing insights or reports. While these tools can be useful and their conclusions might hold water at a broad level, there's a deeper issue: when even the footnotes are fiction, how much of the output can you really trust?
One widely circulated report—citing over a hundred references (many inaccurate or fabricated)—makes a bold sociological claim:
“LinkedIn attracts a more educated, financially conservative, professionally established user base that represents later stages of innovation adoption... X appeals to a more educationally and politically diverse audience that embraces financial risk-taking and early innovation adoption.”
While this narrative feels insightful, it rests on shaky foundations. In their effort to sound more compelling and human-like, AI chatbots often start and end their responses with clear factual claims. But in stitching those facts together, they sometimes introduce subtle inaccuracies—phrases or details that aren’t entirely true.
As these models become more advanced, their responses begin to take on qualities once unique to human speech: exaggeration, sarcasm, optimism. Ironically, these human-like traits—meant to make AI more relatable—can also make the output less trustworthy. It’s no longer just about whether the facts are correct, but whether the tone and narrative distort the truth, intentionally or not.
So let’s return to the theory at hand: yes, it’s plausible that LinkedIn and X attract different demographics and serve different social purposes. But without verifiable, rigorously sourced data, even the most eloquent sociological claims remain just that—theories. And in an age where misinformation spreads fast, that distinction matters more than ever.
Why This Matters
Digital platforms are now social spaces, economic battlegrounds, and political arenas all at once. The idea that platform choice reflects socioeconomic status and cultural alignment is a fascinating one—but it deserves to be examined with proper evidence, not just compelling language.
That’s why fact-checking tools like Facticity.AI are essential in the age of generative content. In less than ten minutes, we were able to verify (or debunk) many of the key stats used in this AI-generated content—revealing a mix of truths, half-truths, and total fabrications.
Recently, we launched the Facticity.AI Chrome Extension, making it easier than ever to fact-check what you see online—without wading through dozens of sources. Whether you're watching a video, listening to a podcast, or reading long-form content, Facticity.AI brings verified information and evidence directly to your fingertips.
As part of our mission to combat digital misinformation, we’re continuously rolling out new features to keep our users informed and protected from the harm and consequences of online falsehoods. So stay tuned!
For context, the original content was generated using Perplexity.AI—a tool that’s fast, smart, and great for getting started. But if you’re making business decisions or publishing insights based on AI-generated content, fact-checking is no longer optional.
It's a necessity.
