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A Face-scanning Algorithm Increasingly Decides Whether You Deserve the Job


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A reporter's body language, tonality, and speech were analyzed by HireVue's artificial intelligence system.

An artificial intelligence hiring system uses job candidates' computer or cellphone cameras to analyze their facial movements, word choice, and speaking voice before ranking them against other applicants based on an automatically generated "employability"

Credit: HireVue

An artificial intelligence hiring system has become a powerful gatekeeper for some of America's most prominent employers, reshaping how companies assess their workforce — and how prospective employees prove their worth.

Designed by the recruiting-technology firm HireVue, the system uses candidates' computer or cellphone cameras to analyze their facial movements, word choice and speaking voice before ranking them against other applicants based on an automatically generated "employability" score.

HireVue's "AI-driven assessments" have become so pervasive in some industries, including hospitality and finance, that universities make special efforts to train students on how to look and speak for best results. More than 100 employers now use the system, including Hilton, Unilever and Goldman Sachs, and more than a million job seekers have been analyzed.

But some AI researchers argue the system is digital snake oil — an unfounded blend of superficial measurements and arbitrary number-crunching that is not rooted in scientific fact. Analyzing a human being like this, they argue, could end up penalizing nonnative speakers, visibly nervous interviewees or anyone else who doesn't fit the model for look and speech.

 

From The Washington Post
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