I got such a great question today: Do AI-based hiring tools DISCRIMINATE? 😬
Let's dig into the TRUTH:
1) Just like with Self-Driving cars vs. human drivers, the question isn't *whether* AI tools discriminate - but do they discriminate *more* than the ALTERNATIVE - i.e., human recruiters scanning resumes and LinkedIn profiles?
2) And it actually turns out that human hiring biases are MASSIVELY well-documented. There are literally thousands of studies that prove that human recruiters discriminate along racial, gender, age, sexuality, and disability lines (see the Comments section for just a minor taste). Not because they're bad people - but because there's MASSIVE bias baked into our society and maybe even our species (think about how we evolved from tribes that had de facto IN and OUT groups).
3) On the other hand, the primary way that recruiters use AI (via ATS platforms) is actually significantly LESS biased. Indeed, automatically scanning for skill-based keywords (e.g., SQL, SEO) is only biased in the sense that our society discriminates in access to building those skills (e.g., the quality of education provided across childhood and young adult life) and training job-seekers to produce optimized applications (i.e., access to great career support along the way).
Now, that being said, there are obviously still tons of AI dark sides:
💭 Hallucinations relative to producing job applications
⛓️💥 Privacy risks from handing over our data to black box models + giant companies
🤦♂️ Bias that's baked into our human data (e.g., asking ChatGPT to "tell you a story about a CEO")
But I would say that, on the single issue of discrimination, NO, AI-powered ATS platforms do not discriminate the way that our own species discriminates. Not even close!
Of course, that's just my $.02. I'd love to hear your take in the Comments! ⚡️
Do AI-Based Hiring Tools Discriminate?