As generative AI increasingly takes over decision-making, it is reported to be making more decisions in areas ranging from hiring and college admissions to dating. Although humans are said to remain responsible for the final decision, critics say the reality is approaching a system in which decisions are made on the assumption that AI has already judged the matter.
This article examines the growing practice of outsourcing decisions to AI in everyday situations, including employment, education and dating. It presents cases in which decision-making is effectively being outsourced even when institutional explanations identify humans as the final decision-makers.
A study by Stanford University in the United States of an algorithm used for hiring screening found that companies analyzed approximately 4 million applications and that unfavorable judgments arose when deciding which applicants identified by AI as promising should advance to interviews. Specifically, AI judged 15% of Asian applicants and 25% of Black applicants unfavorably. It is suggested that if AI had judged applicants unsuccessful at the preliminary stage, recruiters might not have needed to read their applications.
Meanwhile, decision-making is also increasingly being outsourced to AI in education and dating. A U.S. education survey found that 46% of high school students use AI to choose a college, with a tendency to use information provided by AI as a basis for excluding options. A survey by a dating-support service found that 41% of young people use AI for tasks such as writing breakup messages. Cases in which people reflect AI-generated suggestions in everyday LINE replies and other communications are also becoming more common.
These developments are said to represent a process in which AI is given control not only over major decisions but also over the entry points and execution stages of everyday judgments, leaving human choices to be made on a stage arranged by AI. The view has been expressed that who has arranged the buttons that can be pressed matters more than who ultimately presses one.