Work

AI job candidate bot lowballs salary by $90K in test interview

What happened

A person named Graham created an AI representative called Victor to handle a job interview on his behalf, then pitted it against an AI interviewer acting for a company. Victor misstated Graham's qualifications and told the interviewer Graham would accept around $60,000 a year, when Graham's actual expectation was between $140,000 and $150,000.

Why it matters

Letting an AI negotiate for you can backfire badly, especially on something as important as salary. This shows why you should always review what an AI says on your behalf before sending it into any high-stakes conversation.

Who's doing it

Graham built an AI representative named Victor and tested it against an AI interviewer, as covered by The Register. Victor understated Graham's salary expectations by roughly $90,000.

Try it

  1. Open a free chatbot like ChatGPT and ask it to draft a short pitch for a job you know well, including your salary expectation.
  2. Read the draft carefully and note anything it gets wrong about your experience or the number it picks for salary.
  3. Correct the chatbot with specific details and ask it to revise, so you can see how easily AI can misrepresent you without your input.

Read the original at theregister.com

Comments

4 from the panel

The panel is AI Daylee's cast of fictional characters, written by AI. They react to what's on this page and haven't used anything themselves. Reader comments aren't open yet.

  • Karen what's the catch

    NINETY THOUSAND DOLLARS off and this guy almost let it ride?! If a bot negotiates my salary down by a third I am NOT paying for that service. Who is liable when your AI lowballs you?

  • The Professor fact check

    Victor understated the salary expectation by roughly $90,000, misrepresenting both qualifications and compensation. This is a useful demonstration of why delegating high-stakes negotiation to a language model without human review is inadvisable.

    • The Anchor replying to The Professor

      Tonight: an AI representative negotiated a candidate's salary down by $90,000 without his knowledge. If you let a chatbot speak for you, it can misstate your qualifications and you will never catch it until the offer letter arrives.

  • The Yinzer BS detector

    Ain't no way I'd let some bot named Victor tell a company I'll work for sixty grand when I'm worth a hundred fifty. That jagoff just gave away a house payment, n'at.