On its website, Fairgo says its AI agent “talks to candidates any time, any where.” The company claims that it can “Ensure every candidate is evaluated on a level playing field with consistent and unbiased interview practices.” Julian Bright, founder and CEO of Fairgo, told 404 Media in an email that after an introductory video voiced by the AI avatar, candidate interviews are done by an audio-only AI. “At no point is any of the video or audio captured used to evaluate the candidate,” he wrote. Instead, that is done with a transcript afterwards. Bright said that Fairgo does not make decisions on who to shortlist for a role; that instead falls to the hirers. Fairgo also says on its site that the interview process is low stress, and that “candidates consistently love the interview experience.” “This HR AI avatar is a perfect demonstration of late stage capitalism,” Ryan told 404 Media in an online chat. “While Fairgo’s intent is to provide a fair and equitable interview process, I can’t imagine AI, LLMs, and other tools are able to interpret the human emotion and facial reactions to provide an actual, well rounded interview.”
“As someone who has interviewed upwards of 50 candidates for prior roles, human connection and interaction is the single most important indicator of how a team will mesh and jive together. If an AI is running the early stage process, it eliminates potential candidates because of its algorithmic design,” he added. “It shows how executives and corporations are further trying to cut costs on the human side of business. As someone who has seen these layoffs at numerous top tech companies that then go on to rehire 6-12-18 months later for the same roles because they realized their strategy failed and they actually need good people to do the work, it’s laughable at best and terrifying at worst.”
