AI hiring is here. It’s making companies — and job seekers — miserable
(CNN) — As America’s labor market slows, AI-led interviews and auto-generated cover letters are dramatically changing the process of getting a job. And maybe not for the better.
More than half of the organizations surveyed by the Society for Human Resource Management used AI to recruit workers in 2025. And an estimated third of ChatGPT users reportedly leaned on the OpenAI chatbot to help with their job search.
However, recent research found that when job seekers use AI during the process, applicants are less likely to be hired. Meanwhile, companies are fielding an increased volume of applications.
“The ability (for companies) to select the best worker today may be worse due to AI,” said Anaïs Galdin, a Dartmouth researcher who co-authored a study looking at how large language models (LLMs) have impacted cover letters.
Galdin and her co-author, Jesse Silbert at Princeton, analyzed cover letters for tens of thousands of job applications on Freelancer.com, a jobs listing site.
The researchers found that after the introduction of ChatGPT in 2022, the letters all got longer and better-written, but companies stopped putting so much stock in them. That made it harder to distinguish a qualified hire from the rest of the applicant pool, and the rate of hiring dropped as did the average starting wage.
“If we do nothing to make information flow better between workers and firms, then we might have an outcome that looks something like this,” said Silbert, referring to the results of his study.
And with more applications to review, employers are automating the interview itself.
A majority (54%) of the US job seekers surveyed by recruiting software firm Greenhouse in October said they’ve had an AI-led interview. Virtual interviews exploded in popularity during the pandemic in 2020. Many companies now use AI to ask the questions, but that hasn’t made the process any less subjective.
“Algorithms can copy and even magnify human biases,” said Djurre Holtrop, a researcher who has conducted studies about the use of asynchronous video interviews, algorithms, and LLMs in hiring. “Every developer needs to be wary of that.”
Daniel Chait, CEO of Greenhouse, warned that with AI infiltrating hiring – from applicants using the tool to apply to hundreds of jobs and employees automating the process in response – it has created a “doom loop” making everyone miserable.
“Both sides are saying, ‘This is impossible, it’s not working, it’s getting worse,’” Chait told CNN.
Pushing back
Employers are embracing the technology — one estimate projects the market for recruiting technology will grow to $3.1 billion by the end of this year. But state lawmakers, labor groups and individual workers have begun pushing back over fears that AI could discriminate against workers.
Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO labor union, called the use of AI in hiring “unacceptable.”
“AI systems rob workers of opportunities they’re qualified for based on criteria as arbitrary as names, zip codes, or even how often they smile,” Shuler said in a statement to CNN.
States such as California, Colorado, and Illinois are enacting new laws and regulations aimed at creating standards for the technology’s use in hiring, among other areas.
A recent executive order signed by President Donald Trump threatens to undermine state-level AI regulations. Samuel Mitchell, a Chicago-based lawyer who argues employment cases, said that the order can’t “preempt” state law but does add to the “ongoing uncertainty” around new regulations on the tech.
However, he added that existing anti-discrimination laws still apply to hiring, even if a company uses AI. And lawsuits are already being filed.
In a case backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, a deaf woman is suing HireVue (an AI-powered recruiting company) over claims an automated interview she was subject to did not meet accessibility standards required by law.
HireVue denied the claim and told CNN that its technology works to reduce bias through a “foundation of validated behavioral science.”
But despite initial challenges, AI hiring seems here to stay. And to be sure, new developments in AI have led to more sophisticated ways to analyze resumes, opening doors for candidates who may have otherwise been overlooked.
But those who value the “human touch” in hiring are left wanting.
Jared Looper, an IT project manager based in Salt Lake City, Utah, began his career as a recruiter. As part of his current job search, he was interviewed by an AI recruiter.
He found the experience “cold,” even hanging up the first time he was contacted by the program.
Looper now worries about those who haven’t yet learned how to navigate a new hiring process in which catering to artificial intelligence is a crucial skill.
“Some great people are going to be left behind.”
The-CNN-Wire
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