The use of artificial intelligence in recruitment... scandals and ethical issues
It has become very important to establish clear legal instructions and guidelines that regulate the work of technology in the human resources sector.

Humanity has learned many lessons from the Corona pandemic, perhaps the most prominent of which are flexibility in work and the importance of technology, especially artificial intelligence and machine learning, in managing life’s affairs.

Companies have succeeded in using these tools effectively in recruitment, training, and performance evaluation processes, and artificial intelligence has also helped companies make better hiring decisions by responding faster.

Companies use algorithms to analyze data about thousands of job applicants and choose the best among them, and using artificial intelligence, human resources have become much more efficient than was the case previously.

The size of the global artificial intelligence market is expected to grow from $47.47 billion in 2021 to $360.36 billion in 2028, at a compound annual growth rate of 33.6%. This growth will mean more reliance on artificial intelligence in all business sectors, including the employment and training sector. As the ABN News website reported recently.

A pivotal role for artificial intelligence
A recent opinion poll conducted among human resources experts and specialists in Japan concluded that more than 60% of the survey participants responded that they have positive expectations about the use of artificial intelligence in recruitment processes, as the technology.org platform recently reported.

Artificial intelligence will play a pivotal role in recruitment processes in the future, and in fact we have already begun to see this role, as many global recruitment companies rely on the use of algorithms and artificial intelligence to select suitable employees.

But there is another dark side to this process, as this use can pose an ethical dilemma and a real threat to the privacy of users. Perhaps one of the most prominent examples of this is what has become known internationally as “The Japanese Rikunabi Data Scandal.” Which was discussed by researchers: Fumiko Kudo, Hiromi Arai, and Arisa Ema in a paper entitled “Ethical issues related to the use of artificial intelligence in recruitment processes...the Reconnabi scandal as an example.”

Every year, about 800,000 students graduate from Japanese institutes and universities, and enter the labor market in search of a job suitable for their qualifications. There are more than 31,000 Japanese companies looking to employ these graduates or choose the appropriate ones for their operations, and all of these (students and companies) are registered in one of the largest Online recruitment sites in Japan, which is the “Reconnabi” website, which is affiliated with the “Recruit Career” company, which provides its services to new graduates.

The company plays the role of an intermediary between graduates seeking work and companies searching for suitable candidates for the job vacancies it owns.

During this process, the company collects and analyzes demographic information and cookies for job seekers (students) collected through the matching service with companies’ needs, and also calculates the degree of probability that each graduate fits the needs of companies, through the use of its own analysis algorithms.

The scandal began when information was leaked to the Japanese media that the company sold the data of student job seekers to at least 38 Japanese companies; Among them are famous companies such as Toyota and Mitsubishi, which caused a major stir in Japan, and led to the Tokyo Labor Office investigating the incident.

The investigation found that Recruit Career's sharing of personal information with client companies violated the Employment Security Law, which resulted in heavy fines being imposed on the company.

The size of the global artificial intelligence market is expected to grow from $47.47 billion in 2021 to $360.36 billion in 2028 (Shutterstock)
Real ethical concerns
Returning to the aforementioned research paper, it discussed in detail the ethical concerns related to the use of algorithms and artificial intelligence, or what is known as human resources technology, in recruitment processes, and the enormous amount of information and data that is collected, whether about job seekers or companies searching for the talent necessary to continue their work.

The paper reached important conclusions: Perhaps the most notable is that “the degree of probability of students accepting or rejecting job offers depends on personal information, and personal information itself may not be the most important, but the ways of dealing with it and methods of analyzing it. Excessive reliance on technology can lead to creating ethical and social problems, which is the case.” Which may present challenges for developers or companies to accept, whenever

“The more accurate the analysis, the more likely it is that the results will be accepted as fact, leading to a greater risk of violation of the legal and social interests of the data subject.”

The researchers also explained that “there are no specific legal instructions and guidelines capable of achieving a balance between the accuracy of analysis and the protection of personal data, and therefore the ethical and social discussion becomes extremely important.”

The importance of building an ethical system
The researchers stressed that “in order to build consensus among the various parties involved in the recruitment process, it has become very important to establish clear legal instructions and guidelines that regulate the work of technology in the human resources sector, and these instructions and instructions must be consistent with the principles of global artificial intelligence governance, in addition to to the national context and the customs and traditions of society.” Although this incident occurred in Japan, the researchers concluded their paper with the hope that “this issue and the discussion that took place around it will contribute to building a clear ethical system in dealing with artificial intelligence, especially in the way of dealing with sensitive personal data.”

In conclusion, it remains to say that those who sold this data are humans, not artificial intelligence itself, and the issue remains the same since time immemorial: How do we humans deal with the data of the Fourth Industrial Revolution? It is a question that will always await an answer.