AI Transforming Hiring and Recruitment

Photo by Alex Knight: https://www.pexels.com/photo/high-angle-photo-of-robot-2599244/

 

AI is being increasingly leveraged in the hiring and recruitment process by companies seeking to hire the best talent, as well as recruitment agencies and platforms that aim to provide the best possible candidates to their clients. Generative AI, in particular, has been found to be particularly effective in helping acquire talent.

From writing job descriptions and scheduling interviews to matching credentials with job requirements, AI has made the HR process smoother and much more efficient than before. Besides, AI frees up time that HR personnel would spend on mundane repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus on forging relationships with potential employees who come closest in terms of their attributes to what a company expects from them (again determined by AI).

Among the things that drive efficiency in hiring and recruitment, thanks to AI, is the ability to adopt automated resume selection and engagement with the optimal candidate profile.  Apart from substantially bringing down the cost of hiring, the use of AI has made recruitment fair, transparent and entirely bias-free.

Digitisation of businesses across industries has resulted in a push towards AI adoption in hiring processes, helping usher in seamless hiring, a substantial reduction in the time taken to hire the most qualified-for-the-job personnel and an across-the-board improvement in the hiring process. As a matter of fact, businesses are moving from the use of stand-alone HR apps to integrated staffing platforms that come replete with a slew of hiring and recruitment-related services.

Interestingly, nontraditional players like major consulting firms are entering the hiring and recruitment scene by taking advantage of their technological assets to facilitate direct connections between employers and potential employees.[1] It is not surprising, therefore, that according to Gartner, 76% of companies have predicted that their organisations will adopt AI technologies within the next year to a year and a half.[2]

Given that AI, particularly GenAI, is going to play an increasingly important role in the hiring and recruitment processes, it makes eminent sense for companies everywhere to prepare themselves for it. They need to have a clear strategy in place with regard to what they aim to achieve by implementing AI in HR. It makes eminent sense to bring the HR departments in question up to speed with the capabilities and abilities of AI when it comes to streamlining the HR function. Of particular importance is the use of AI-powered chatbots for employee-facing tasks, the automation of administrative tasks, as well as the optimisation of the actual recruitment process by way of improving job descriptions and skills data management.[3]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[1] https://www.tcs.com/what-we-do/industries/high-tech/white-paper/ai-transforming-future-staffing-recruitment

[2] https://www.gartner.com/en/human-resources/topics/artificial-intelligence-in-hr

[3] https://www.gartner.com/en/human-resources/topics/artificial-intelligence-in-hr

Do Businesses Really Have to Invest in Generative AI?

 We have been told for a couple of years that Generative AI is the best thing to have happened to the world of business in a very long time. It is supposed to revolutionize everything from the development of all new R&D models and enhancing productivity to better customer experiences and the creation of whole new business models.

According to premier management consultancy company BCG, as many as 85% of business leaders plan to increase their company’s spending in AI and GenAI by a whopping 85% in 2024. Besides, 54% of them think that AI will deliver cost savings in the current year on account of productivity gains across operations, customer service, and IT.[1]

Is GenAI Really All That It is Touted to Be?

There are recent reports that suggest that way more may have been invested in GenAI for the kind of benefits that it currently provides to a business.

In particular, a Goldman Sachs report alludes to an interview with Daron Acemoglu, Institute Professor at MIT in which he expresses his reservation about AI having any major impact on the economy and has in fact forecasted that it will impact not even 5% of all tasks over the next decade.

As a matter of fact, he believes that AI will increase US productivity by a mere 0.5% and a GDP growth of a pedestrian 0.9% over the next 10 years.[2] So much for all the billions going into just GenAI over the last two years!

On the other hand, the PwC 2024 AI Jobs Barometer report will have us believe that financial services, IT, and professional services sectors boasting relatively higher AI exposure have witnessed 6 times faster productivity growth than those with low exposure to AI.[3] But one can, all the same, detect an element of disenchantment with the technology in terms of its ability to deliver and provide real practical value.

There is a feeling of belied potential in the sense that GenAI hasn’t really reached a stage of development where it can be used in an optimal fashion. There is a lot of hype and speculation surrounding bold new announcements every few months, which does not seem to lead to much in terms of achievement and accomplishment.

With time, as expectations become more realistic with regard to what can possibly be delivered, there may be a resurgence of interest yet again, but tempered with realism.

The Way Ahead

As AI scales and grows in volume, one will notice that there will be an increasing focus on factors like regulating and governing technology, ownership, safety, and risk. There need to be efforts made by organizations who adopt and promote GenAI to reach out to their employees who fear it’s coming. It is important that businesses don’t attempt to better their prospects, by damaging those of their workers.

The companies that are the leaders in GenAI adoption are doing that by involving their employees in deciding how their work and roles should be reshaped.

GenAI is too good a technology to not be taken seriously, but it cannot be adopted in a massive way without making it prove itself. The process of maturation of the technology is a work in progress and it would be an interesting space to watch. The coming years will show us if it will really take over the world or just be a flash in the pan, albeit a brilliant one.

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[1] https://www.bcg.com/publications/2024/from-potential-to-profit-with-genai

[2] https://www.ibm.com/blog/gen-ai-live-up-to-hype/

[3] https://www.forbes.com/sites/hamiltonmann/2024/05/22/dont-get-caught-up-in-the-genai-hype/

Is the Honeymoon With Generative AI Over or Just Beginning?

 The advent of Generative AI was presumably the most paradigm-redefining event for not just the technology industry but humanity itself. From industries across the board to governments seeking to leverage its abilities, Generative AI promised to make unheard-of productivity and efficiency levels possible.

The fact that it was able to analyze humongous quantities of data in real-time and ferret out actionable insights, made it the go-to technology for everyone ranging from healthcare, marketing and retail to education, finance, and transportation as well as everything else, besides.

This was amply demonstrated in the humongous amount of investment racked up by it in the recent past. Last year saw the technology supported by a whopping $21.3 billion of which Open AI got the lion's share of $10 billion. The first quarter of 2024 saw an investment of US 3 billion, which may reach 12 billion by the end of the year.[1]

Waning Interest?

The fact that there is considerably less investment in 2024 in Generative AI than in 2023 could point to a waning interest in Generative AI or be a breather for the already substantial investment to bear fruit, before resuming in a giddy rush of exuberance that characterized the initial phase. The thing to understand about Generative AI is the fact that it seems to be focused on prompting efficiency and productivity, apart from reducing costs, and it does not really seem to have a clear trajectory with regard to innovation and growth.

Not much seems to have been accomplished by way of zeroing in on those who would help take Generative AI to the next level, or on how it will be governed and the risks that it may pose.[2]

The biggest drawback of Generative AI is the fact that it’s outpouring of content that has driven out genuine high-quality human-driven content may lead to a scenario in which all future AI models may only have its self-generated content to help model their output. What's the point of it all, if all that Generative AI does is make a fool of you with perennially regurgitated nonsense?[3]

All the hoopla around Generative AI is premised on the assumption that its growth is inexorable, exponential, and inevitable. There isn't much sane deliberation around the fact if it is actually the case or like other technologies before it, it has a high point, a plateauing moment, and then a downslide. Leaders in positions of authority need to make considered decisions about the adoption of Generative AI and adopt it only if it promises to bring some value to their businesses.

Conclusion

The sheen seems to be wearing off Generative AI what with governments seeking to regulate the technology, creators bringing about lawsuits for infringement of copyrights, and everybody expressing concerns about privacy.[4]

There are, however, those who believe that it will see massive adoption in the years ahead with Gartner estimating that 75% of businesses will deploy Generative AI to create synthetic customer data, something that a mere 5% of them do so at present. This is something that allows businesses to simulate environments that help them zero in on new product development opportunities.[5]

So, the jury is out on Generative AI. Let's see where the billions invested in it take it.

[1] https://www.ey.com/en_ie/news/2024/05/generative-ai-venture-capital-investment-globally-on-track-to-reach-12-billion-dollar-in-2024-following-breakout-year-in-2023#:~:text=2024%20Dublin%2C%20IE-,Generative%20AI%20Venture%20Capital%20Investment%20Globally%20On%20Track%20To%20Reach,following%20breakout%20year%20in%202023

[2] https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/consulting/us-state-of-gen-ai-report.pdf

[3] https://hbr.org/2023/11/has-generative-ai-peaked

[4] https://www.vox.com/technology/2023/8/19/23837705/openai-chatgpt-microsoft-bing-google-generating-less-interest

[5] https://www.gartner.com/en/articles/3-bold-and-actionable-predictions-for-the-future-of-genai#:~:text=Generative%20AI%20technologies%20will%20greatly,technology%20companies%20and%20research%20labs.