The Artificial Intelligence Video Interviewing Act: HireVue’s Perspective

On May 29, 2019, the Illinois House of Representatives passed the Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act (AIVIA). Designed to ensure that job candidates are clearly informed that their interview videos will be analyzed by AI-driven assessment technology as part of the interview process, the law requires employers to follow certain disclosure and privacy guidelines. The final bill now on Governor J.B. Pritzker’s desk generally reflects many of HireVue’s principles and opinions on the issue, and we support legislation that safeguards general privacy.

At HireVue, we believe every job interview should be fair and objective, and that candidates should understand how they’re being evaluated. This is fair game, and it’s good for both candidates and companies.

HireVue and its customers have always informed job candidates of these assessments. This is business as usual for HireVue, and we’re happy to see these best practices become law for all AI vendors in the HR technology space.

You may recall that around this time last year, the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect. HireVue has spent the last few years helping our customers successfully prepare for full compliance with GDPR and any associated regulations and guidelines. The Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act incorporates many of the same principles of GDPR, including candidate privacy, transparency, and the “right to be forgotten.”

What the AIVIA Means for HireVue Customers

For HireVue customers, the AIVIA entails very little, if any, change. As mentioned above, the Illinois bill aligns very closely with the principles of GDPR, and we have spent the last several years helping customers achieve full compliance. Our solutions always require candidate consent as an integral component of the interview process, and that will continue to be the case going forward.

At HireVue, candidate privacy is of paramount importance to us. We support the principles incorporated into the Illinois legislation and will work directly with our affected customers to assure compliance.

Next Steps: Make All Artificial Intelligence in the Hiring Process Accountable

Today, a candidate (or their data) may interact with artificially-intelligent technologies several times before a hiring decision is made.

For example:

1. Before a candidate enters the hiring process, an AI-based sourcing tool might scrape their data from social media platforms and recommend (or not recommend) them to recruiting teams. HireVue does not perform this practice, but other available tools in the market do.
2. After a candidate applies, their application and resume may be evaluated with AI; these technologies automatically filter out large segments of the applicant pool. Chatbots perform a similar function.
3. During the assessment phase of the screening process, the next generation of pre-hire assessments - game-based and video-based assessments - leverage AI to evaluate candidate competencies and job fit.
4. After a hiring decision is made, AI-enabled technologies may perform background checks and background screening. These capabilities are not a part of HireVue’s platform, but other tools do and are in use by some corporations.

The number of AI-enabled recruiting technologies is growing by the day. It wouldn’t be unrealistic to expect that in the near future, every aspect of the hiring process will have some sort of AI element.

Of these many and varied applications, video interviews evaluated with artificial intelligence (video-based assessments) are a subset of a subset. The Artificial Intelligence Video Interviewing Act is certainly a step in the right direction, but candidate privacy and transparency doesn’t start and stop at the video interview.

Candidates deserve to be informed any time AI is employed in the recruiting process.

Candidate Privacy and Transparency: Not Up for Debate

As AI becomes further embedded in every aspect of hiring, it is critical that candidates are informed any time they are assessed by, converse with, or have their candidacy impacted by AI. At HireVue, we hope to be at the forefront of candidate privacy, transparency, and the “right to be forgotten.”