MINNEAPOLIS — When you apply for a job, there’s a good chance there’s artificial intelligence working in the background.
Nadeem Schwen, a lawyer at Winthrop & Weinstein who focuses on the intersection of law and technology, says, You can see that.”
It aims to speed up the early stages of the hiring process, but not everyone is on board.
According to a Pew Research Center survey, 71% of U.S. adults oppose the use of AI in final hiring decisions. Additionally, 41% do not want AI to review job applications.
Laura Cummings falls into that group.
“If you don’t have the right words on your resume and cover letter, you’re not going to get ahead,” says Cummings, who lives in Minneapolis.
AI weeding out qualified candidates is just one problem. There are also legal and ethical concerns.
“Legal concerns center around this issue of bias, which is primarily unintentional bias,” Schwenn said. At issue is what is known as the “black box” problem.
In many cases, we don’t know how AI systems make decisions.
What can companies do?
“There’s this risk of unintentional bias, so educate yourself on the tool, do a risk assessment, test it. Test it internally to see what’s going on,” Schwenn said. I explained.
The ultimate solution may be government regulation.
“I think ultimately there will be more oversight, and there’s a lot of focus on the developers of this software. Special regulations that apply to developers will somehow solve that problem, or at least I think it helps,’” Schwenn said.
Until then, there are some things you can do to protect yourself.
Make your resume readable by AI. Focus on skills and the simpler the better. Focus on industry and employer buzzwords based on the job description. Harness AI for your benefit. The right software can help you polish your resume and craft a compelling cover letter tailored to the job description. However, feel free to edit these suggestions to make them sound more like you. Keep your social media private.
“There are definitely bots cruising the web trying to get more information about applicants, so with that in mind, perhaps you can have a little more control over your public profile before you get to the application stage. “It will be,” Schwenn said.
The Minnesota Consumer Data Privacy Act was passed this year and will go into effect in July 2025.
This regulates automated decision-making that creates a profile based on an individual’s personal information and makes some consequential decision based on it.
