{"id":68530,"date":"2022-10-13T14:27:33","date_gmt":"2022-10-13T11:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=68530"},"modified":"2025-09-07T14:37:24","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T11:37:24","slug":"study-finds-ai-in-hiring-does-not-boost-workforce-diversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/study-finds-ai-in-hiring-does-not-boost-workforce-diversity\/","title":{"rendered":"Study finds AI in hiring does not boost workforce diversity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers at the University of Cambridge have said that AI-powered recruitment software reduces the diversity of new hires in the workplace. The report is by <a href=\\\"https:\/\/www.theregister.com\/2022\/10\/13\/ai_recruitment_software_diversity\/\\\" target=\\\"_blank\\\" rel=\\\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\\\">The Register<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers tested a popular hiring tool that uses candidates\u2019 facial photographs to assess personality. The program analyses five key traits:<\/p>\n<ul class=\\\"wp-block-list\\\">\n<li>extraversion;<\/li>\n<li>agreeableness;<\/li>\n<li>openness;<\/li>\n<li>conscientiousness;<\/li>\n<li>neuroticism.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>They found that changes in facial expressions, lighting and background, as well as clothing choices, affected the tool\u2019s predictions. These features have nothing to do with a candidate\u2019s abilities, so using AI for hiring purposes is misguided, the researchers say.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\\\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\\\">\n<p>\u201cThe fact that changes in lighting, saturation, and contrast affect your personality assessment is evidence of this,\u201d said Kerry McKerret, a research fellow at the Cambridge University Centre for Gender Studies.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>According to her, the results are consistent with previous work. They showed that wearing glasses and a scarf during a video interview or adding a bookshelf in the background can lower a candidate\u2019s conscientiousness and neuroticism scores, McKerret noted.<\/p>\n<p>The researcher believes that these tools are likely trained to seek attributes associated with previously successful candidates. Consequently, the software is more likely to recommend similar people rather than promote diversity.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\\\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\\\">\n<p>\u201cAs tools learn from the previously existing dataset, a feedback loop is created between the ideal employee and the criteria used by automated recruitment tools,\u201d said McKerret.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The researchers argue that such technologies should be more tightly regulated.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\\\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\\\">\n<p>\u201cWe are concerned that some vendors wrap \u201csnake oil\u201d in shiny packaging and sell it to unsuspecting customers,\u201d said co-author of the study Eleonora Dradge.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>She noted that such \u201cunscrupulous\u201d products are virtually unaccountable.<\/p>\n<p>According to McKerret, the European Union&#8217;s AI Act classifies hiring tools as \u201chigh-risk.\u201d However, the rules do not specify concrete steps to counter bias in AI software.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\\\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\\\">\n<p>\u201cWe believe that the regulation of AI-based HR tools should play a much more prominent role in the AI policy agenda,\u201d said the researcher.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In September, the European Commission proposed <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/eu-to-tighten-accountability-for-ai-caused-harm\">to strengthen accountability<\/a> for harm caused by AI tools.<\/p>\n<p>In June the FBI reported a rising number of cases <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/fbi-scammers-use-deepfakes-in-online-job-interviews\">of using deepfakes<\/a> in online interviews.<\/p>\n<p>In May the White House warned of <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/white-house-flags-risks-of-using-ai-tools-in-hiring\">the threats posed by AI hiring tools<\/a> in recruitment.<\/p>\n<p>Subscribe to ForkLog\u2019s Telegram news: <a href=\\\"https:\/\/t.me\/forklogAI\\\" target=\\\"_blank\\\" rel=\\\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\\\">ForkLog AI<\/a> \u2014 all the news from the world of AI!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers at the University of Cambridge say that AI-powered recruitment software reduces the diversity of new hires in the workplace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":68531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[438,167],"class_list":["post-68530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-research"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"10","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68530"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68532,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68530\/revisions\/68532"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}