The robot will see you now: could AI streamline the recruitment process?

How many times have you applied for a job, waited anxiously for an offer or a refusal and never heard anything back? But could a robot streamline the recruitment process, and is a rejection letter from a robot better than no letter at all? This year, the Washington Post reported that Ikea Moscow used Robot Vera to conduct preliminary interviews and provide feedback to applicants. Anne Keegan, professor of human resource management at the College of Business, University College Dublin, explains Robot Vera. "Robot Vera is a video-enhanced chatbot that uses machine learning to continuously refine her conversational skills based on more and more practice with applicants. Robot Vera recognises emotions and gathers data based on the answers given by job applicants to her questions. She then distinguishes applicants based on this information to make predictions about job suitability. She also sends follow-up letters to applicants," she says.