AI Now Screens Both Sides of Job Interviews, But Only Employers Hold the Power

Automated tools have screened job applicants for years through keyword filters and recorded-interview scoring, well before candidates began using AI chatbots for application help. A CESifo working paper studying over 3,000 real applicants found that asynchronous AI-scored interviews led to a more than 50% drop in application completion, with the steepest declines among women and highly qualified candidates. Experts argue this creates a structural power imbalance: while a candidate using AI to prepare affects only themselves, an employer using AI to score makes consequential decisions about people without transparency or right of appeal. Some jurisdictions are beginning to regulate this gap — the EU AI Act classifies candidate-evaluation systems as high-risk, Illinois mandates consent before AI analyses video interviews, and New York City requires published bias audits for automated hiring tools. Until broader rules exist, candidates are advised to ask employers directly what is recorded and analysed, as the nature of that response itself signals something about the organisation.