Candidate AI superpowers: a risk or opportunity?

For those of you who haven't been aware of the risks and legal considerations around using Artificial Intelligence in the talent space (which I suspect are not many of you), there are three current risks to using AI in hiring.

Two of which have been frequent talking points at events and conferences worldwide - and these are the 1. DEI implications and 2. the violation of state and local laws. 

But there's one other risk that is creeping into the HR hemisphere and we haven't yet faced the tricky discussions around how we're going to respond to it. This risk is that candidates are going to be armed with this AI technology as well. Yes, you’ve probably already seen or heard of it. And, it’s happening.

I think what this means is that we're going to have to be able to:

a) accept that candidates are using these tools 

b) be able to monitor their use of these tools

For example, in colleges across the US they use technologies and systems which assess plagiarism in assignments. For students, there is so much opportunity to leverage third-party technology to help you write essays these days. And maybe, there's going to have to be some version of that same system built to assess whether someone is cheating on an application process - such as with assessments.

Cheating is going to need to be addressed or looked at differently. University education is changing based on how students are learning with technology, and this is going to be no different when it comes to the hiring process. In recruitment we must figure out where these tools are going to give advantages to candidates - and where we are OK with that, and where we are not.

If applicants have AI-created cover letters, resumes, flash cards – can we accept this? But what about assessment tests - how do we handle that? Is in-person interviewing going to be more common or will we be able to assess things that Chat GPT can't help candidates with?

It's a conversation we need to be having together and it's new unchartered waters.

One thing I predict - we are going to have to create new ways to evaluate candidates. I believe we will have to consider candidates based off criteria that AI can't give them - how they connect with their teammates, critical thinking, communication style, behavioral characteristics. Maybe we'll even have more time to hone-in on these aspects and build more effective teams overall?

Candidate AI superpowers - it's that next risk/opportunity I am interested in. How we as talent community navigate candidates use of AI remains to be seen. Let’s come together to embrace and also to intervene when needed.