Study: Majority of Germans view AI in recruiting critically

• More than half of the respondents fear that interpersonal relations will suffer under more AI.
• 43 percent are even of the opinion that AI makes the application process worse for them.
• One third of respondents see the use of AI as an opportunity to prevent discrimination.

Erfurt, 11 April 2022. The new study "AI in Recruiting " by IU International University of Applied Sciences (IU) shows: The majority of respondents (64.7 percent) reject the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in recruiting and rate the technological development as negative. Above all, the loss of interpersonal aspects such as sympathy (59.4 percent) as well as the perceived uncontrolled data processing (34.1 percent) cause concern.

Two-thirds of respondents (65.2 percent) do not trust the decisions made by algorithms and 58.6 percent of respondents do not trust companies that use AI in the application process. Four out of five respondents (80.5 percent) feel less valued when AI is used instead of a human in the application process; and 43 percent even think AI makes the application process worse for them overall.

Thus, more than 72.3 percent of respondents also think that every step in the application process and the decisions made should remain in human hands.

Basically, it can be said on the basis of the study results: the deeper the application process goes, the more likely the use of AI is rejected. While 69.8 percent still find the use of AI in writing job advertisements to be good, only 38.1 percent find it good when AI is used to analyse word choice and facial expressions in job interviews.

AI offers opportunities for more justice

From the respondents' point of view, the use of algorithms in the application process also has positive aspects: one in three respondents (32.9 percent) sees the use of AI as an opportunity to prevent discrimination on the basis of origin, age or gender. And one in five (21.5 percent) think that the selection process is fairer because AI always makes decisions based on the same criteria, such as professional qualifications. Also, a third (31.7 percent) of respondents find that the use of AI makes the entire application process faster.

"Artificial intelligence has a decisive advantage over humans in terms of equality: it thinks in ones and zeros. Prejudices and subjective evaluation are alien to it, it decides purely on the basis of facts - provided the AI algorithms are programmed correctly," says Prof. Dr. Michaela Moser Professor of Human Resource Management at IU International University of Applied Sciences (IU).

Clear differences in origin and education

People with a migration background are clearly more open to AI than respondents without a migration background. Half (48.6 percent) of the respondents with a migration background are positive about the use of AI, while only one third (32.6 percent) of the respondents without a migration background are.

A look at the level of education reveals further differences. The study results show that the higher the level of education, the more positive it is: The higher the level of education, the more positive the attitude towards the use of AI. While only 30.1 percent of respondents with a secondary school diploma consider AI to be a positive development, 42.5 percent of respondents with a university degree do so.

Lack of awareness for AI use

One reason for the fundamental scepticism towards AI could be a lack of experience: 9 out of 10 respondents (88.5 percent) have not yet had any conscious experience with AI in an application process. Only 6.3 percent have consciously perceived artificial intelligence in previous application processes. Most frequently, this happened during job and company research via websites, trade fairs or telephone calls.

"Applicants are often not even aware of the use of AI in the application process. In addition, the idea of AI in recruiting initially arouses scepticism in some, as many do not even know how and at what point in the application process AI is used. Those who have had conscious experience with AI are usually more open to its use. It is therefore advisable to make the use of AI in the application process more transparent," says Prof. Dr. Katharina-Maria Rehfeld, Professor of Human Resource Management at IU International University of Applied Sciences.

Looking into the future, almost two thirds (63.3 percent) are of the opinion that AI will be used more frequently in recruiting in the future. However, only just over one in three (36.6 percent) of them assess this development as good. When asked what would alleviate doubts about the use of AI in the application process, half of the respondents (53.8 percent) said they would have the free choice between humans or AI in the application process.

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