Artificial intelligence is seeping into almost every facet of our lives. Job interviews are no exception. According to the World Economic Forum, 88% of companies already use at least some form of AI for candidate screening. But is it always ethical?
This person’s experience might raise some red flags. When they went to a recent job interview, the recruiter was only interested in conducting a “vibe check.” The rest of the evaluation process, apparently, was to be done by AI. The person’s post blew up and sparked a conversation about the ethics and humanity of the current recruitment process. “Orwell and Huxley are spinning in their graves,” one commenter even quipped.
A candidate recently shared their nightmare job interview, where they were unknowingly scored by an AI
Image credits: Mimi Thian (not the actual image)
“Apparently, I didn’t vibe hard enough with the computer,” the job seeker wrote after the rejection
Image credits: Emiliano Vittoriosi (not the actual image)
Image credits: benzoix (not the actual image)
Image credits: NegativeCranberry970
People feel averse to AI in the recruitment process, even if it may have some advantages
Finding out that you getting a job depends on whether you can impress a robot can feel dehumanizing. What’s more, few job seekers are actually thrilled that they’re being hired by AI. A 2024 survey by Talker Research revealed that 32% of Americans feel discomfort with the idea of AI conducting job interviews.
Some commenters pointed out that it’s illegal to use AI in a job interview without disclosing it. However, that’s true only depending on where you live. New York City requires employers to tell candidates if and how AI is used in the hiring process. The EU has also passed the EU AI Act, which requires employers to ensure there is no bias and that candidates are aware that artificial intelligence is being used.
Is there a positive side to companies using AI for recruitment? Experts say that it’s good for doing simple, repetitive tasks, like initial screenings and basic skills tests. What else is it good for?
- It can also save recruiters time by going through applications more quickly.
- It’s more cost-effective, as there is no need for large hiring teams.
- When used correctly, it can be more objective during the initial screening phase.
Most people could probably move past AI evaluating these things. The trouble begins when a person logs in for a job interview and finds out that they will be talking to a robot.
AI recruitment tools have a lousy track record of bias and a lack of transparency
The use of AI in recruiting is getting a lot of pushback. People are pointing out how dehumanizing it may feel to be evaluated by a machine and not by a person. There is also concern about AI bias, as there have been examples of it in recent years.
In 2018, Amazon had to scrap its AI hiring tool for being sexist. Members of the team that created the tool told Reuters that “the system effectively taught itself that male candidates were preferable.” The system was built on the data of resumes from the previous 10 years. The kicker? The applicants were mostly men, and that’s why the tool developed a bias toward women.
Current AI tools still struggle with nuanced interpersonal skills. A human recruiter is better at recognizing a candidate’s emotional intelligence and potential. That’s especially relevant if a person is a non-traditional candidate: a career switcher or a person from an underrepresented group.
There’s also a problem with transparency. Recruiters often don’t know how these AI tools operate and wouldn’t be able to explain their algorithms in simple terms. The candidates are often not told why they were rejected.
As evident from this story, there is a digital privacy concern as well. How much data will the AI tool be storing? And shouldn’t the applicant know beforehand that there is AI involved? The EU has the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), but some companies using AI in their recruitment process may violate even those strict guidelines for handling personal data.
And, of course, there’s the dehumanization problem. As the principal researcher and project lead for the Canadian Labour Market Information Council Lorena Camargo writes in a post on LinkedIn, “There are people’s lives and career trajectories at stake here that are being ultimately decided on.”
“[They’re] impacted by technologies that we aren’t certain how much of the process and output/recommendation can be explained and properly supported in its logic.”
As AI is still a relatively new technology, it is easy to understand why job seekers and people in general feel so defensive about it. Companies and recruiters will have to reassure them in the future about what steps they’re taking to address the concerns we’ve listed above. Until then, people will most likely look at AI job interviews as something from dystopian fiction.
“Next level dehumanising,” commenters reacted with disappointment
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