Rethinking HR Recruitment: Ethics of AI in Hiring Practices (SHRM’s The AI+HI Project)

The AI+HI Podcast

Artificial intelligence is reshaping business and HR at breakneck speed—but are we ready for the ethical storm ahead? From chatbots that combat conspiracy theories to systems that can deceive humans, the line between innovation and risk blurs daily. In this week’s issue, a machine learning pioneer recommends treating AI tools like “child prodigies” needing guidance, tech giants race to enhance AI decision-making, and an Emmy-winning journalist warns of present dangers with AI and hiring.

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Transcript to Podcast

And then the history of me taking ride shares that has never happened. I take You know, I take them somewhat a lot because I live in New York and I have a car and I was like, so what happened? And he told me that he had a job interview with a robot He had applied to a baggage handler position at a local airport and he got a, you know Call from a robot that day on his phone asking him three questions I had never heard about robots doing job interviews and you know I was really interested and I made a note and and then Uh, you know, kind of forgot about it until a few months later.

And she said, like, you know, she can't sleep at night because, uh, companies use very basic algorithm to go through people's calendars to understand, you know, how many hours they're absent. And she was really worried that people who have a disability, uh, mothers, or, uh, you know, people, employees with caregiving obligations, um, you know, might get, um, might get reprimanded or terminated because they have, uh, longer absentee times. But. And they are protected under the law.

I'd love to kind of get your reaction to you're right--that that is something that Warranted a book in many ways. And I'd love to get your reaction to this notion of what it is that people don't know, particular that stands out to me as far as what is it that's happening, what is it that's out there in terms of the space and not just from the candidate perspective and the applicant perspective, but also even from the employer perspective,

Like, I talked to a lot of job seekers and they're really unaware how much AI is being used. I mean, some folks do know that AI is being used and they sort of, you know, now that they have chat GPT they sort of joke about that. They, you know, use chat GPT to help them polish their resume and their cover letter and they use it to train for one way video interviews. You know, they sort of joke about it against AI, but like, you know,

Or credit analyst. Right. Uh, so in, in, in many ways, what, what, what I found particularly interesting about that example was things that would be differentiators were actually differentiators, but in, in a way that kept him from being included in searches, as opposed to, to including him in Yeah. I mean, you know, we don't know exactly right. And I would never say that I know exactly why Alex didn't make it to the next round, right? Because I'm not inside the algorithms.

critically assess, uh, these tools. Um, and really think through like, well, is there science to actually, uh, back this up this, uh, this idea that this company is putting forward, um, and then do a pilot study and then just like, you know, like continuously, like there is a way if you use deep neural networks, We can go back to the computer and you know the software and ask the software What did you actually predict on so you can get this list?

I mean obviously thousands of keywords, um or something like that in case of a resume parser. It's not Interesting to look at these lists, but it has to be done to just make sure it works right like also, like, if you buy a tool from a vendor, I think, you know, if that company doesn't have a technical report, that's the first red flag, right? And then really scrutinize these technical reports. I've only seen a few, and that, you know, Does bug me a little bit because I think that should be actually public like if you built this tool and you validated it and you made sure that it, you know, passes the 4/5th rule.

I'd, I'd love to hear some examples of the discrimination you found and, Also, you know, what it is that you, you see employers doing or could be doing in some way. You know this one woman described to me how she like set a timer to go to the bathroom because she also She only had 15 minutes and if she needed longer in the bathroom She also wanted to eat a quick snack But she needed to be back because as soon as she was over her 15 minute limits her boss would like, you know Call her email her and be like, where are you? Like you need to be working and She described it as so stressful.

That like, if we, if we, um, You know, the surveillance of workers is actually not leading to them being more productive. What it leads to is like productivity theater that, uh, you know, you try to like always have the green bar on like the active status that you like, check it early on slack and we like ready to work at like 7 30 and then you take your dog for a walk or you go to meetings that you don't even want to. You need to go to, but you just want to show your face and that cannot be helpful in, in the workplace. Um, so I think what is like a much, much better measurement.

Probably much harder. So we can, we can technically check if you're in front of your computer, but are you actually performing the work and are successful at doing the work? We don't actually know that. In fact, a lot of people just sit at the computer and do other things. Um, or just think around and, you know, and honestly, you know, I tested that myself and, you know, surveilled myself and monitor myself with a couple of these companies.

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