Synthetic Job Interviews: An Idea I Love to Hate

How do you feel about AI avatars conducting job interviews? Job seeker Jack Ryan recently posted his HR experience with a synthetic job interviewer on LinkedIn. Let’s just say that it looks and sounds sub-optimal. But is there anything to this? Can a synthetic interviewer be effectively used to manage early-stage interviews? After all, these evaluations (while still biased) are consistently biased the same way. Which, in theory, yields more consistent outcomes.

Fairgo.ai (the company that provided this service) argues that their system merely provides a transcript-based evaluation, leaving final hiring decisions to human recruiters. Ryan was left unimpressed, viewing this use of AI as emblematic of corporate cost-cutting and an indicator of a very impersonal corporate culture.

From my perspective, this is one of the purest examples of “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” We are quite a few years away from any version of this being an effective or socially acceptable way to screen job candidates. Said differently, this is just a really bad idea.

Author’s note: This is not a sponsored post. I am the author of this article and it expresses my own opinions. I am not, nor is my company, receiving compensation for it. This work was created with the assistance of various generative AI models.

About Shelly Palmer

Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named LinkedIn’s “Top Voice in Technology,” he covers tech and business for Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular daily business blog. He's a bestselling author, and the creator of the popular, free online course, Generative AI for Execs. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.

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