Hirevue is looking to expand its profits, and you are the price
Tian Zhu | June 30, 2022
Insight: The video interview giant Hirevue’s AI interviewer had helped to reject more than 24 million candidates based on reasons that only AI knew. More scarily, the candidates could potentially contribute to their rejections with the data they provide.
Recruitment has always been a hot topic, especially after the great resignation following the covid-19 breakout. How to find the right candidates with the right talent for the right job has been the top concern for companies that are eagerly battling the loss of talent.
One important factor that causes talent loss during the hiring process is human bias, whether intentional or unintentional. The video interview giant, Hirevue, thought to use AI to combat bias in the hiring process. Machines can’t be biased right?
We all know the answer to that question. Though AI may not exhibit the same type of biases that human has, it has its list of issues. Clear concerns existed around the AI’s transparency, fairness, and accountability.
First, their algorithm was not transparent at all. Hirevue could not provide independent audits on their algorithms that analyzed the candidate’s video, including facial expressions and body gestures, that produced the final hiring decision. On top of that, there was no indication that the algorithm is fair towards candidates with the same expertise with different demographic backgrounds. The theory behind the link between facial expression and the candidate’s qualification is full of flaws; different candidates with the same qualifications and answers could be scored differently due to their eye movement. Thirdly, the company is accountable for the decision made by the AI. The company even implies the collection and usage of the interview data are solely for the “employer”, yet it is unknown whether they gain access to this data through permissions from the employers for various purposes.
Hirevue was challenged by the Electronic Privacy Information Center with a complaint to the FTC regarding the °∞unfair and deceptive trade practices°±. The company has since stopped using any algorithms with data other than the speech of the candidates.
With the strong push back on the robot interviewer, Hirevue limited their scope of AI to only the voice during the interviews. But note that Hirevue did not start as an AI company, but as a simple video interview company. It°Øs the company°Øs fear of missing out on the AI and big data that drives them to squeeze out the value of your data, desperately trying to find more business value and profit from every single drip.
Such a scenario is not unique to Hirevue. In 2022, AI is closer to people than you think it may be. People are no longer just curious about it but expect AI to help them in their daily life. Uber, for example, could not have been made possible without the heuristic behind optimal matching between the drivers and the users. Customers expect AI in their products. The companies that provide the capability race ahead while those who don’t fall behind naturally.
There are companies out there just like Hirevue, sitting on a pile of data, trying to build up some “quick wins” to not miss out on the AI trend. There’s just one problem, the data that the customers provided was not supposed to be used this way. It is a clear violation of secondary usage of data with all the problems mentioned in the previous sections.
The year 2022 is no longer the year where AI can grow rampantly without constraints from both legal and ethical perspectives. A suggestion for all potential companies that want to take advantage of their rich data: Be transparent about your data and algorithm decisions, be fair to all the stakeholders, and be accountable for the consequences of your AI product. The in-house “quick wins” should never make it out to the public without careful consideration of each point.
https://fortune.com/2021/01/19/hirevue-drops-facial-monitoring-amid-a-i-algorithm-audit/