HR professionals are rather chatty about ChatGPT for recruiting right now. But will this AI-powered wonder automate enough recruiting tasks to cut humans out of a key HR function?
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is a chatbot, or AI-powered tool that can seem surprisingly “human”. Specifically, ChatGPT is trained to generate human-like responses to a variety of inputs. You can ask ChatGPT to tell you about historical events or to instruct you on household repairs.
The responses from ChatGPT, while not always the most eloquent, can even help candidates fill out a job application and fool recruiters into offering an interview.
Is ChatGPT for recruiting a possibility?
Conversational AI has been an emerging field for some time now. These days, when using customer support chat on a website, we might not even realize we’re typing with a bot instead of a live agent.
So imagine using ChatGPT for recruiting to save human effort and time throughout the hiring process. Some possibilities include:
- Job descriptions, job descriptions, and oh, more job descriptions
- Social media posts promoting open reqs or that new CSR initiative
- Text messages to candidates throughout hiring stages
- Application status updates to rejected candidates
- Onboarding welcome messages and instructions
It sounds like a recruiter’s dream, doesn’t it? But there’s more to consider about this exciting tech right now, especially for HR purposes.
Could ChatGPT for recruiting replace humans?
There’s buzz about using ChatGPT for recruiters to offload a variety of tasks across hiring stages to AI. And rightfully so, as ChatGPT and other generative AI tools have interesting potential – as long as there are quality controls in place to mitigate adverse effects of bias. However, the suitability of ChatGPT for recruiters has some concerning limitations when you take a closer look.
ChatGPT limitations for recruiting and HR
While ChatGPT has lots of potential for increasing human efficiency, there are tangible considerations that HR teams need to understand before adopting the interesting tool.
1. Baked-in bias
Unfortunately, ChatGPT is biased. Any HR leaders concerned about NYC AI Bias Audit Law (LL-144) or the upcoming European Union AI Act should be especially wary of ChatGPT. Why? Because input directly influences output.
ChatGPT is trained to learn language by intaking vast amounts of human-generated content, such as social media posts. All that human-generated bias (conscious and unconscious) creeps into the AI-generated responses down the line. As a result, ChatGPT requires regular human oversight to monitor for and mitigate bias. The level of human intervention will likely decrease with fine tuning, but some bias is baked into ChatGPT because the AI was trained by human-generated content in the first place.
Not quite the best way to put together job descriptions or interview questions. We’ve even seen some chatter about using ChatGPT for selecting candidates, which is a concern for ethical hiring that doesn’t artificially shrink talent pools.
Example: Textio has analyzed job posts and performance feedback written in ChatGPT. They’ve identified concerns about how useful the tool is right now, including gender- and race-related bias.
As the makers of the chatbot admit on their blog, “ChatGPT sometimes writes plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers.” That’s because the language model tool is built to learn language, not to comprehend what it’s saying. As a result, ChatGPT can be coherent enough to convince humans who don’t already know a statement is inaccurate.
This leads what’s called “hallucinations” in machine learning or “confabulation” in neuroscience. For the rest of us, think of it like a toddler randomly parroting and adapting what they’ve heard others say, even though they don’t get it themselves. It’s not intended to be a lie, and yet the misinformation is still damaging. Just imagine what using ChatGPT for recruiting might come up with when answering a candidate’s questions about your organization’s values or mission.
Example: ChatGPT might need a fact checker…hey, you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few elephant eggs.
Exploring automated solutions for recruiting
If you’re interested in experimenting with ChatGPT for recruiting purposes, review all AI-created messages before they reach a candidate. That human-layer of oversight and auditing is still critical for ensuring suitability for quality and employer brand purposes. Especially for a chatbot not made to be mindful of everything that goes into talent decisions and compliance.
Another option is purpose-made recruiting solutions for hiring and growing talent that address TA and TM’s unique challenges. For instance, freeing up valuable human time by automating repetitive tasks without adding unconscious bias to the process. Harver customers save time with readymade interview questions and automated interview scheduling based on matching criteria and assessment scores.
Whatever solutions you adopt for improving recruiter efficiency, remember that you don’t have to sacrifice your organization’s diversity or control over messaging and brand.
