The AI conundrum – should generative AI have a role in talent acquisition?

Alana Birchall, Business Solutions Architect at ManpowerGroup, is our guest blogger for this article.

AI is a huge and ever evolving topic within Early Careers Talent Acquisition and it’s creating a major dilemma: should you embrace this in your strategy or not?

The Telegraph recently reported that KPMG, Deloitte, PwC and EY have sworn off ChatGPT and other generative AI tools, amid concerns it will give jobseekers an unfair advantage during their notoriously competitive recruitment processes. But with 72% of students and candidates using some form of generative AI on a regular basis – a number that has increased by 50% in just four months – and 32% saying that they wouldn’t want to work for a company that didn’t allow them to use generative AI in the application process, does this option put a company at risk of shrinking their talent pool?

Furthermore, research from Arctic Shores found that generative AI is being used by various diversity groups to level the playing field with 23% of Black and Ethnic minority candidates and 51% of candidates with a household income below £20,000 likely to use ChatGPT, and neurodivergent candidates more likely to use than their neurotypical counterparts. Such research presents an ethical quandary; promoting AI could undermine the process but prohibiting it could negatively impact diverse groups.

Rather than restrict usage in the process, is the answer to redesign your selection process to embrace the use of generative AI? Or, in the immediate term, should we be doing more to coach candidates on good vs bad usage, sending a clear message to candidates that you are a progressive, supportive employer?

What are your thoughts on generative AI? Share your thoughts with us here.

To learn more about ManpowerGroup’s Early Careers initiatives, please get in touch.