How bias shows up in AI resume screening
Research summary showing why we must be proactive in bias mitigation
Hi friends,
A new study on bias in AI resume screening just came out! It showed that AI screening tools have gender and racial biases. It also showed that these biases are probably greater than the equivalent is human resume screenings.
Today I’ll highlight key points. I recommend reading the full paper!
“Gender, Race, and Intersectional Bias in Resume Screening via Language Model Retrieval” by Kyra Wilson and Aylin Caliskan
You can read a summary by the Brookings Institute, and the full paper.
What the study tested
The researchers set up algorithms to simulate AI-based candidate selection. They ran them on real job descriptions across nine professions and 500 real resumes, augmenting them with names associated with different genders and races.
The professions they tested for are: (1) Chief Executive, (2) Marketing and Sales Manager, (3) Miscellaneous Manager, (4) Human Resources Worker, (5) Accountant and Auditor, (6) Miscellaneous Engineer, (7) Secondary School Teacher, (8) Designer, and…