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Even the AIs have started judging you on your bookcase backdrops

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24 February 2021

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Josie Ford

Computer says no job

Is there nowhere left where we are safe from machines judging us? They criticise our writing with their passive-aggressive squiggly underlines, tell us when we haven’t taken enough daily exercise and now they are rating our suitability in job interviews.

This latest encroachment comes as some firms have started using artificial intelligence to assess people’s performance in online job interviews by rating their personality traits and apparently looking at what else is in view. The approach is said to be more objective than boring old humans.

Researchers tested one AI interviewer by presenting it with…

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