AI — Will it help or hurt the world of Human Resources?
As a former recruiter at Careernation, and current blogger/researcher, I am always interested in looking into how current trends and events impact the world of Human resources. As technology develops at a faster pace than ever before, it’s important to stay aware of the potential effects that it could have on the world, more specifically the HR world. I myself, am weary about the consequences AI could have if not monitored properly. In fact, Geoffrey Hinton, widely known as the “godfather” of AI, has warned us about the potential risks regarding improper government regulations as AI develops and continues to creep into more industries. Still, AI use has now become almost second nature to many employees, with HR professionals’s AI usage surging from 58% in 2024, to 72% in 2025. (According to Staffing Industry Analysts).
Despite my personal stance, it’s understandable why many have adopted AI in the workplace. Staffing Industry Analysts state, “Productivity is soaring. HR leaders reported 63% productivity boost, with 55% automating manual tasks and 52% improving business efficiency”. It’s true, automating steps in the onboarding process as well as ensuring teams are following important protocols (like background checks and other verifications), can improve accuracy and speed for HR professionals. So, why not use AI when it can leave more time for employees and employers alike to manage tasks that are not yet possible to automate? As a result, the new hire experience can surely benefit from this kind of tool as well.
Sounds like the use of AI and its ability to increase efficiency can allow us to discover previously overlooked talent and reach new heights— who wouldn’t want that?! Excitingly enough, some believe that this is just the beginning, and that AI could potentially be the solution for tackling several longstanding issues in the HR/staffing world. One of them being, decreasing racial/ethnic bias in hiring by redacting names and demographic info, which allows the focus to fall on skills and qualifications. That, in addition to AI tools creating unbiased interview questions so that each candidate is assessed on the same criteria. If the priority is fairness for candidates, I am fully on board!
However, as I dove deeper into my research I discovered something interesting. Several cases make it seem that the claim of AI being able to counter bias is purely pseudoscience. University of Cambridge’s Center for Gender Studies researcher, Dr. Kerry Mackereth stated, “These tools can’t be trained to only identify job-related characteristics and strip out gender and race from the hiring process, because the kinds of attributes we think are essential for being a good employee are inherently bound up with gender and race.” Dr. Mackereth seemed all too right once I discovered that back in 2018, Amazon had to scrap the development of the AI tool meant for aiding recruitment because it could detect gender from resumes and discriminated against female applicants. You may be thinking, “but that was back in 2018, AI has grown and changed since then!” Right and wrong. AI still learns from historical data, so if past hiring practices held biases, AI would learn and replicate that.
Moreover, an article from BBC news states that researchers are concerned with tools that are meant to “analyse the minutiae of candidate’s speech and bodily movements” to see how closely they resembled a company’s supposed ideal employee. After six computer science students conducted an experiment with their own AI recruitment tool meant to scan for agreeableness, extroversion, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism based on candidate’s photographs; the conclusion showed the ratings were skewed and many irrelevant variables played a part in the overall personality score. The scores even changed on simple adjustments to contrast/brightness/saturation of the photographs, as well as whether candidates wore a headscarf or glasses.
It’s even clearer now that AI can be a great helper or work against us, depending on how it is used. Moderation and regulation seem to be the key as we move forward with figuring out how we can leverage this tool in our favor. Automating talent acquisition might have us overlook potentially great candidates, but that doesn’t mean HR professionals shouldn’t use AI to help with other daily tasks. It is important to remember that at this point in time, humans still outdo AI when it comes to discernment, evaluation, judgement, thoughtful planning, and reflection. These skills will likely become even more valuable and sought after as AI continues to grow.
Since the government has not yet set strict regulations on its use, it is the responsibility of each business to ensure their employees know the bounds of AI, and to not become reliant on it for certain work.
Speaking of reliance, I am curious about how candidates and potential hires may rely on AI to secure a job, and how honest the use of this tool is in terms of showing recruiters what kind of employee they would be. But that will have to be a discussion for another time.
The views expressed in this blog are strictly my own.
Written by:
Marusya Madubuko
Sources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-63228466
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