Artificial Intelligence Is Coming for Hiring, and It Might Not Be That Bad

Proponents of artificial intelligence (AI) claim the technology can eliminate hiring biases, and companies such as Stella IO are using machine learning to identify skills needed for certain jobs, with the AI matching candidates possessing those skills with open positions, reports Bloomberg . Stella IO founder Rich Joffe says the company's algorithm is "only allowed to look at skills, it's only allowed to look at industries, it's only allowed to look at tiers of companies." AI also is being used to help develop internal talent, an example being CorpU's partnership with the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business to organize an online course that uses machine learning to identify high-potential employees. CorpU CEO Alan Todd says those ranked highest are typically not the individuals who were already on the promotion track, and often display qualities such as introversion that are overlooked during the recruitment process. Cornell University Professor Solon Borocas has learned that machine learning in hiring can lead to unintentional discrimination, with algorithms carrying their programmers' implicit biases, or being skewed to prefer certain qualities and skills that are overwhelmingly present in a given dataset. Companies such as Pymetrics are trying to ameliorate these biases by having coders audit the algorithms to see if they are favoring any gender or ethnic group.