Modern Hire Reveals Study on AI Disclosures and Consent in the Hiring Process

CognitIOn, the nucleus of Modern Hire's platform, merges expertise in industrial-organizational psychology, talent selection science, advanced analytics, candidate experience, employment law, data science, and the practical application of ethical AI.

FREMONT, CA: Modern Hire, the all-in-one enterprise hiring platform that enables organizations to continuously improve hiring experiences and outcomes with trusted science and technology, revealed conclusions and implications from a research study on artificial intelligence (AI) disclosures and consent statements in the hiring process. The study is the first to understand candidates' attitudes toward AI in hiring and how much information candidates want and need to feel comfortable with AI being used during the hiring process.

Powered by CognitIOn by Modern Hire, which drives all of Modern Hire's research, products, innovation and the scientists behind them, Modern Hire's AI Consent Language Research Study explored AI disclosures and consent statements communicated to end-users when AI is being used during the hiring process, with varying amounts of information on how AI would and would not be used to evaluate end-user responses. Study participants were randomly assigned to five different disclaimer statements, ranging from a simple acknowledgment that AI would be used to score their interview responses to more detailed descriptions of how AI would and would not be used. The research findings, conclusions, and implications will help inform future AI consent language in hiring processes to better establish candidate trust in ethical and fair AI-powered hiring technology.

"Distrust of AI in hiring is due to a common black box approach, where users are not made aware of how decisions are being made," said Mike Hudy, Ph.D. and Chief Science Officer at Modern Hire. "Modern Hire removes this resistance with a transparent, glass-box approach, which is essential to building trust that AI is being implemented in an ethical, transparent and fair manner. This cutting-edge research allows us to better understand how much and what kind of information end users want and need to feel comfortable being scored by AI. It gives us insight into candidates' attitudes toward AI in the hiring and selection processes, and ultimately allows us to provide better products and services to our clients and their candidates."

The study revealed that respondents who received more in-depth disclaimers reported a significantly higher understanding of how AI would be used to evaluate their interview responses than those who received less informative disclaimers. Similarly, those who received more thorough explanations of how AI would and would not be used also reported that they had significantly more information to make an informed decision on allowing AI to evaluate their interview response and were more likely to view AI as a fair, ethical and bias-free evaluation approach for vetting job candidates.

Other key research findings include:

More Information on AI Relates to Greater Trust in Technology

Respondents who consented to AI being used to evaluate them in the study, both in pre-interview perceptions and post-interview reactions, were more likely to understand how AI would be used to assess their interview, more comfortable with AI being used to evaluate their response, and more likely to report having enough information to make an informed decision about allowing AI to evaluate their response.

Respondents across Different Races and Ethnicities Respond to AI Similarly

There were no significant differences in reactions to AI based on respondents' race and ethnicity.

Modern Hire's AI Consent Language Research Study findings suggest that providing more information upfront can be valuable to candidates in the hiring process and play a role in building their trust and support of AI in hiring decisions. Additionally, the results suggest that negative perceptions of and reactions to AI may be linked to lower consent of the technology's use in the hiring process. Education on AI and transparency of its use in employee selection could be an intervention to improve perceptions of and reactions to AI and increase consent for the use of AI in the hiring process.

"This research is further proof that with CognitIOn, Modern Hire is on the cutting edge of AI research, and a leader in the scientific community and in the use of ethical AI in hiring," said Karin Borchert, CEO of Modern Hire. "We're looking forward to incorporating more groundbreaking research like this into CognitIOn, and subsequently, our products and services, to continue providing immense value to our clients and their candidates."