Ethical and operational challenges in AI-empowered employee recruitment: Insights and suggestions to the managers and managerial practitioners

Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into hiring processes can revolutionize employee recruitment and talent acquisition by increasing efficiency and objectivity. Yet, adopting AI in recruitment may raise ethical, operational, and fairness concerns. The current commentary therefore aims to explore the benefits and challenges associated with AI in employee recruitment policy and practice, focusing on unintentional bias, loss of human judgment, erosion of personal interaction, ethical concerns, skill relevance, and human-AI collaboration.

Drawing from research papers and empirical investigations, the current commentary has scrutinized the literature of AI-empowered talent acquisition and analyzed cognate applications in employee recruitment, resulting in several important themes and issues. Specifically, AI algorithms are capable of perpetuating biases from historical data, executing discriminatory profile examination, inspecting the trueness of personal career journey, and improving the effectiveness of candidate assessments. Having said this, however, AI-driven processes may hinder soft skill demonstrations and cause alienation among employee with different levels of AI knowledge and ability. Opacity in AI decision-making may also raise concerns about fairness and transparency, risking organizational trust in employee selection process.

Following the literature consolidation and analysis, the current commentary would like to recommend a hybrid approach melding AI efficiency and human judgment, in order to enhance AI-empowered talent acquisition process. While AI can potentially improve hiring processes, its implementation must be carefully crafted and managed to address ethical concerns and ensure fairness. A balanced approach that includes transparency, regular updates to AI criteria, and human oversight is imperative for creating an inclusive and effective strategy of talent acquisition. Continued dialogue and research are crucial for navigating the complexities of AI in recruitment.