Google's AI safety team tells job seekers: Skip our AI, talk to a human

Google DeepMind's own safety researchers do not trust the company's AI tools to screen job candidates fairly, even as Google sells those same tools to other businesses. According to a report by Bloomberg, the company’s AGI Safety and Alignment Team, a group that works to make advanced AI safer, is asking job applicants to fill out a special form. The form helps make sure a person, not a machine, reads their application. In its report, Bloomberg claimed to have viewed a document about this which allegedly carried the warning: "PLEASE DO NOT SHARE THIS DOC WIDELY.""We have an applications system with a non-trivial probability your CV will be screened out incorrectly or take too long to reach us," the document says. "Filling out this form makes sure that a real human on the team will get to see your application."The form further has an advisory that states: “A real human will read these. These humans get really tired of reading LLM answers, because they all sound very samey.”Google DeepMind wants to hire top talent, says spokespersonThe report quotes a Google DeepMind spokesperson who said the company wants to "recruit and hire the most qualified talent at Google DeepMind." The spokesperson denied that Google's systems wrongly filter out applicants. "This team set up a special form to go past the recruiter review, and get their resumes direct to the people on the team. But there are no shortcuts to getting hired," the spokesperson said.Increasing role of AI in hiringAI now plays a big role in hiring across many companies. Some firms use AI to rank job seekers. Others scan resumes for key words. This has left some HR workers worried about their own jobs. Google's Workspace team sells tools like Google Drive to businesses. It markets Google's AI features as a way to "save HR time by quickly creating drafts for job postings, evaluating resumes, and forecasting hiring needs."However, AI hiring tools have faced criticism. A previous Bloomberg investigation found that OpenAI's ChatGPT showed signs of bias linked to applicants' names. Workday Inc., which sells workplace software, faces a lawsuit claiming its AI hiring tools discriminate based on race, age, and disability. Workday has denied the claims and said humans make the final hiring calls.Get the latest technology news and updates. Download the TOI App.