Ineligibility and AI

This discussion arises from Chapter 6 of the book Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O’Neil. The WMD involved in this chapter is one related to hiring at different locations in the United States. This WMD is dangerous, and honestly I have no clue why we still use it at the level that we do.

The thing I am talking about is personality tests that interviewers use. These tests are ran similarly like mental health quizzes, which for some can be very destructive. These tests on the surface level can make some sense in some situations. For example, someone who does not like stress or pressure shouldn’t be working in a high-strung environment. However, what happens is these quizzes are used by multiple businesses, and if something is flagged for one, all of them will receive this flag. This means that even if you have a solid degree and work history, one small flaw that you have changed from years ago will come back to haunt you. I feel like Cathy would agree with me, since she is very against AI in the application process, for the same reasons.

To me, a way to prevent this is just to remove the quiz entirely. However, I feel like the best path is to improve it, by either rewriting the quiz, or allowing the quiz to not have a major impact in the hiring process. The fact that in the book, a guy was able to have college experience at Vanderbilt, and even had a recommendation from a friend in the business, but still lost the job is really dumb to me. If the quiz was more for information gathering, and not an intensive point in the process, this WMD would be even closer to being destroyed.

For me, the biggest takeaway from the chapter is how impactful these small quizzes can be in someone’s life. A WMD like this should not have the influence that it does, but sadly it can change how the world views people.