AI is increasingly being used by recruiters to make first selections and determine whether a job opening is even displayed to you. These technologies, which are frequently trained on data acquired about prior or similar applicants, can help recruiters save time and effort when making a hire. 

On the flip side, recently the US government said that artificial intelligence technology to screen new job candidates or monitor worker productivity can unfairly discriminate against people with disabilities, sending a warning to employers that the commonly used hiring tools could violate civil rights laws. Now, imagine the level of concern for a country like India, where according to the most recent figures, an estimated 2.1 per cent of the Indian population, or to be precise about 26 million people, has a disability. 

Hiring with AI, be careful!

Companies invest heavily to use AI in the hiring process, with automated assessments, digital interviews, and data analytics being used to scan through resumes and screen individuals. As the debate around greater diversity, equity, and inclusion gains traction in the IT industry, it came to their notice that AI is doing more harm than good if not used strategically.

AI brings discrimination: Resume scanners, software to monitor employees that rate workers based on keystrokes, game-like online quizzes to assess job skills, and video interviewing software that measures a person's speech patterns or facial expressions were all mentioned as examples of popular work-related AI applications. Such technology may possibly screen out those with speech problems, severe arthritis that hinders typing, and a variety of other physical or mental disabilities.

Bias creeps in with AI: The AI systems are usually trained on historical data, bias is always an issue. In the IT industry that has been dominated by men for decades, the historical data on which AI recruiting systems are based will inevitably be biased. There needs to be an appreciable diversity in the datasets for training, otherwise, an algorithm will be unable to predict how individuals from underrepresented groups would have performed in the past. 

Not in synchronisation with regulations: AI is a fairly new technology when it comes to real-life deployment, and it lacks oversight in terms of laws around privacy, regulations, and policies. One of the major concerns involves the use of facial recognition technology. Concerns have also been raised about the volume of data that AI can acquire on an applicant while evaluating video interviews, assignments, resumes, LinkedIn profiles, and other publicly available social media accounts. Many a time, candidates remain unaware of what analysis AI systems do during the interview process, and there are no clear regulations to keep a tap on how the collected data is handled.

Lacks a human touch: There are some aspects and characteristics of a candidate that can only be perceived by a human’s mind. This is where AI fails, it can screen an applicant's skills and abilities on a surface level, but it cannot understand a deeper analysis of their social life, values they hold, family orientation, moral convictions, and other similar elements. This is where the lack of human contact is most noticeable. There are various more elements that go overlooked and ignored by the AI, which might have been useful to the organisation if the candidate had been hired.

Cannot be reliable: Even though the process is systematic and scientific but in the end, it’s a technology and has its own flaws. For the sake of equal opportunity and neutrality. AI can miss out on some crucial aspects and resourceful candidates in the name of fairness and equality. Recruiters may find it difficult to thoroughly review a big application pool. This is where AI can help, but it is entirely dependent on the data it is fed with.

But, AI is a saviour too

In the recruitment industry, it is a neck-breaking task to manually go through the applications of candidates, while wasting a lot of time. Talent intelligence uses AI to analyse an applicant's abilities. This is accomplished in a matter of seconds when it would take individual hours to accomplish. Ai is here to quickly sort through a big amount of data and identify candidates. Further, with better integration of analytics, AI can cross-check on candidates’ skills and the skills required for the job openings. This will ultimately release HR managers of the initial screening process.  

It is essential to move ahead cautiously and the onus lies on businesses deploying AI to assist in their recruitment cycle. AI has the potential to make things easy but, if deployed without a responsible approach, it can backfire badly.

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