Recruitment, dismissal… When artificial intelligence takes over the management of human resources

“ Randomly“, this is the criterion used against the 60 employees of the consulting firm Accenture who discovered, on August 17, that they had been made redundant by an artificial intelligence (AI). The story, told by The Daily Mail, reports that the company provides services to the Meta group on the mediation and the commercial aspect. The said employees, whom the company terminated through the use of an AI, worked with Facebook. It was during a videoconference organized by the company that they learned not only of their sudden dismissal but also that they had been appointed arbitrarily via the use of an algorithm, without further details.

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These hasty layoffs are a new episode in the wave of restructuring that is affecting the tech sector. And using AI to cut costs isn’t unique to Accenture and Meta. On the contrary, several similar cases have already arisen in other large groups. Like Amazon, which had already caused controversy by using an AI to recruit and fire its delivery people, the newspaper revealed. Bloomberg in 2021. More recently, the Russian company Xsolla used an algorithm to lay off its 150 employees during a restructuring that took place at the end of last year.

New AI “cost killers” for companies

However, the expansion of these new methods of recruitment and dismissal underlines an evolution of practices in the human resources sector. This has its source in the very functioning of the Gafam : “ This is what I call technodarwinism: in these large groups, only the best and those who adhere to the project are kept.“Says Asma Mhalla, expert in digital economy and Gafam. She takes as an example the speech, last June 30, of Mark Zuckerberg, where the CEO announced that he wanted to increase the pressure on certain employees “ having no place at Meta, at a time when the group is posting disappointing results. “ The tech industry is a time-compressed market. You always have to be the fastest “, reacts Asma Mhalla, while specifying:” Gafam bosses often consider that automating as many functions as possible, including dismissal and recruitment, allows them to be the sharpest compared to their competitors, with lower HR costs“.

For the researcher, it is simply a question of an evolution in the allocation of certain tasks that were once considered to be “added valueand therefore reserved for humans. But these functions have always existed, she recalls: “ In the United States, these people were called cost-killers or cost killers in French. Large companies called on them to put in place redundancy plans, which is what AIs are doing today for Gafam finally“. On the other hand, according to the researcher, the main ethical issues arise when the algorithm is designed: “ Basically, it is a human who designs artificial intelligence. However, the designer must have opinions that influence the voluntary orders induced in the algorithm and that the latter will apply.», Details Asma Mhalla. In fact, in 2018, the AI ​​designed and used by Amazon to recruit new employees had been deemed sexist in its way of selecting CVs.

In France, fragile protective locks

However, what is now mostly tested and used in Gafam tends to become established in the operation of smaller structures. “ I have a former student, now a recruiter, who helps virtual assistants for example“says Caroline Diard, teacher-researcher in HR management and law at ESC Amiens. “ AI is a catch-all term when in truth the use of expert systems to sort resumes has become quite recurrent by companiesadds Asma Mhalla. The expert also believes that this use can make it possible to revalue the work of HR: “it releases them from all daunting tasks to position them on high value-added tasks. HR will then take care of recruiting the best candidates with an already pre-selected panel“, she analyzes.

Especially since in France, there are locks before a virtual avatar takes full charge of an economic redundancy like the one that occurred via the company Accenture on August 17. “ There is a procedure to follow which requires an interview prior to dismissal. This must be organized in the presence of a natural person who represents the employer », explains Caroline Diard, citing article L1232-2 of the Labor Code. “In addition, during his interview, the employee may be accompanied by a person belonging to the staff of the company (article L1232-4) “, she adds. In the event of redundancy, the Labor Code also provides for the consultation of staff representatives (L1233-8 et seq.). Phases of discussions and negotiations that are difficult to carry out by an AI at present, but not “impossible” in the future. “ If tomorrow an Artificial Intelligence is endowed with a legal personality, then it could replace the employer on many tasks but for the moment our Labor Code is still a shieldconcludes Caroline Diard.