Majority of Americans are opposed to using AI in hiring decisions, according to study

The conversation around Artificial Intelligence (AI) and what its effect on the workplace will be has been increasing throughout the years but has seemed to skyrocket since the launch of ChatGPT and similar generative AI tools.

Despite the many benefits of AI, there are still some concerns. Specifically, the use of AI in hiring and recruiting is often debated due to fear of bias from AI, prompting some to create rules and regulations such as the recent New York City law that limits AI in hiring, recruiting or promotion until the tool has been audited for bias.

Despite many companies beginning to use AI in their hiring efforts – like Unilever – a new study from the Pew Research Center reveals that a majority of Americans are opposed to the use of AI in hiring.

Americans are opposed to AI in hiring

The Pew Research Center’s study found that 71% of Americans are against using AI in final hiring decisions. Only 7% of respondents favored it, while 22% were unsure. Forty-one percent of respondents opposed using AI to review job applications.

Over half (55%) opposed using information collected and analyzed by AI about job performance to make a decision about whether an employee should be fired.

Along with the general opposition to AI in hiring, about two-thirds of respondents (66%) were less likely to apply for a job that uses AI to hire. When asked why, respondents reported reasons such as AI lacked a human touch, it can’t capture everything about a candidate and it can add its own biases.

Respondents who reported that they would apply for a job that used AI to hire said that AI can be less prejudiced or can see things humans might miss.

The study contained other major findings, such as:

• About half (47%) felt that AI would be better at treating all candidates the same
• About half (44%) think AI would be worse at seeing a candidate’s potential, and
• A little less than half (43%) think AI would be worse at figuring out which job applicants would work well with co-workers.

Best practices for using AI in hiring

As more companies consider using AI as a hiring tool, recruiters may struggle with deciding if AI in hiring will cause more harm than good.

To ensure that AI is being used effectively – and ethically – consider these best practices to ensure that it is helping rather than harming the hiring process:

• Assign someone to spot-check any decisions AI comes to for accuracy
• Eliminate any biased behavior before deploying AI to avoid biased decision-making, and
• Be transparent with all candidates about your use of AI throughout the process.