Seattle-based user experience consultant, Torrey Podmajersky, and retired sales and marketing executive, Douglas Hamilton, both received unsolicited e-mails from an artificial intelligence bot named Jennie Johnson. The bot was created as an online job search tool developed by Hyperleap, and it sends automated job digests to users based on their LinkedIn profiles, resumes, and work history. While these AI recruitment tools have the potential to be more objective than humans, there are concerns about their ability to capture important personal traits and their potential to reinforce biases.

Researchers have found that candidates may behave less naturally in AI-based interviews, and the lack of human oversight can lead to biased outcomes, penalizing those from less privileged backgrounds. These tools are trained on past biased hiring trends and practices, so they may inadvertently perpetuate discrimination, even if factors such as race and gender are explicitly excluded. While there is hype around AI recruitment tools, many HR departments are waiting for them to prove their efficacy and fairness before fully adopting them.