Can Artificial Intelligence Be Trusted In Hiring?

Google's Genesis scandal raised sobering questions about AI just as a lawsuit was being filed alleging AI is causing widespread discrimination in employee recruitment and hiring.

Increasingly, employers rely upon artificial intelligence to perform the complex function of recruitment and hiring.

This became scarier in the past week, after Google unveiled its Genesis Chatbot, a computer program designed to simulate conversation with humans.

Genesis, which uses advanced AI technology, was widely criticized as being racist and sexist.

Genesis was unable to produce accurate images of historical white figures, such as George Washington (above). The pope was pictured as an Indian woman. Genesis also provided outlandish and incorrect answers to basic questions. For example, Genesis said "[i]t is not possible to say who negatively impacted society more, Elon (Musk) tweeting memes or Hitler." Some commenters complained of anti-white bias on the Genesis platform.

Musk, owner of Tesla and X (formerly Twitter), called Genesis “racist & sexist” and said the same AI errors that are evident in Genesis are reflected in Google’s search engine.

Does AI discriminate against jobseekers who are black, older and/or disabled?

Meanwhile, a class action lawsuit was filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court of Northern California alleging that Workday, Inc., a human resources management firm headquartered in Pleasantan, CA, uses AI algorithms to exclude jobseekers who are African-Americans, over the age of 40, and people with disabilities.

Workday says the lawsuit is without merit.

According to the lawsuit, Workday is used by more than 10,000 organizations around the world, including more than 50 percent of the Fortune 500, to screen and process job applicants. Workday’s AI systems and screening tools winnow potential job candidates from among high volumes of applications. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates Workday processed 2.2 million U.S. job requisition transactions in May, representing nearly 22% of all U.S. job openings that month.

The lead plaintiff in the lawsuit is Derek L. Mobley, 50, who suffers from depression and anxiety. He says he applied for more than 100 positions that exclusively use Workday, Inc., as a screening platform and each time he was rejected.

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