Hey everybody, welcome back to the Elon Musk podcast. This is a show where we discuss. The critical. Crossroads the shape. SpaceX. Tesla X, The Boring Company and Neuralink and I'm your host Will Walden if you want uninterrupted episodes of the Elon Musk podcast. Please go to. Clubelon.supercast.com to find out how there's a link in the show notes. AI can either help us or it could hurt us, and those are the narratives that are going around
right now. But recently, a professional makeup artist found her career with a leading cosmetic brand abruptly ended due to an AI recruitment tools interpretation of her body language during a video interview. This incident sheds light on the growing reliance on artificial intelligence in the recruitment process, particularly in the United Kingdom, which is now recognized as a front runner in integrating AI with human resources.
The make up artist Anthea Mordois experienced his unexpected turn in her career trajectory following a compulsory RE evaluation of her position at Mac Cosmetics during a furlough period. Despite her commendable performance in the video interview, the AI system developed by High Review, a recruitment firm based in the United States, scored her low on nonverbal communication, leading
to her dismissal. Now this case comes at a time when the United Kingdom is reported to be the second largest adopter of AI in the field of recruitment and human resources, following closely behind India and on par with United Arab Emirates. A study conducted by IBM in November of this year encompassed 20 countries found that 41% of the companies are now leveraging AI to streamline
the recruiting and HR functions. Now this controversy surrounding this dismissal highlights the ethical and practical concerns associated with AI in employment decisions. Higher Review's decision to discontinue its facial analysis feature in 2020 was a response to the growing unease amongst workers about the implications of such technology on their careers and their personal well-being.
Now This ordeal had significant repercussions, though both professionally and personally, for this person in the industry. Feeling unjustly outed from a career she passionately pursued, she embarked on legal proceedings against Estate Lauder, the parent company of Mac Cosmetics. The matter was eventually settled outside of court, but not without leaving a lasting impact on their mental health and her outlook on the use of AI in employment practices.
Now, the broader context of this incident is the increasing incorporation of AI tools in the recruitment process, aiming at enhancing efficiency and also decision making. From scanning resumes to analyzing candidates, expressions and gestures and video interviews, AI is reshaping how companies assess potential hires. This trend is supported by a notable increase in job applications through platforms like LinkedIn, indicating a shift towards more digitalized employment processes.
However, the effectiveness and fairness of AI is selecting the most qualified candidate remains subject of debate. Critics argue that despite the cost saving advantages for companies, there's scant evidence to suggest that AI consistently identifies the best suited candidates for positions. And the growing use of AI in HR has raised alarms about the transparency in such practices and the need for regulatory oversight to protect workers rights.
The concern is that employees and job seekers are often unaware of the extent to which AI influences their employment prospects and workplace evaluations. Now, legal experts and labor unions in the UK are advocating for stringent regulations to govern the use of AI and
employment decisions. The goal is to ensure that these technologies are applied ethically and that there are mechanisms in place to challenge and rectify erroneous AI judgments that could adversely affect individuals careers. Now, in response to this controversy, both Estee Lauder and Higher View have defended their employment assessment practices, emphasizing the comprehensive and multifaceted nature of the decision making processes.
They assert that AI and visual recognition technologies constitute a minor part of a broader array of performance related data and qualitative feedback considering in employment evaluations aiming to maintain fairness and objectability in hiring processes. Now concerns are mounting over the transparency and the regulatory oversight of AI tools in the UK. What's calls for protective measures for workers?
Of course. Legal experts stress the necessity of regulating this to ensure fairness and accountability and AI driven employment decisions. Now, I'm not sure how I feel about this. I think there are some parts of AI that are great. It helps us go through the HR process when scanning resumes very easily. Candidates that aren't going to work out get weeded out very quickly.
Candidates that wanna rise to the top, they can do that relatively easily if we use AI technology to scan the resumes. But the body language thing, But that's what's getting me here, because some people, they just don't have the same body language as other people. They don't know how to express themselves and they never have. And it's OK if they get the work done in my opinion, but they're a great worker. They they know their industry and they can produce really
great products. There's no reason for them not to get hired or for them to be fired. Sometimes communication is something that people have to work on and that's OK. So for right now, this is still up in the air. Estee Lauder and Hireview have both defended themselves, and it looks like they're going to continue to use products like this in their hiring process. Hey, thank you so much for listening today. I really do appreciate your support.
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