British companies are rapidly increasing the use of artificial intelligence (AI) interviews in hiring, but jobseekers are growing more resistant because advance notice and explanations of evaluation criteria are lacking.

Tech news outlet TechRadar reported on May 1 that 47 percent of UK jobseekers have experienced an AI interview as part of a hiring process.

The survey was conducted by Greenhouse among about 3,000 UK jobseekers. It found 82 percent of respondents said they were not clearly informed in advance that AI would evaluate them. Another 24 percent said they only learned AI was involved after the interview began.

The lack of transparency has led to people abandoning recruitment processes. Some 30 percent of respondents said they had previously halted a hiring process because it included an AI interview, and 19 percent said they would be willing to drop out if the same situation arose in the future.

Jobseekers pointed in particular to AI scoring pre-recorded videos with no human present. This was counted as the biggest factor driving dropouts. The failure of companies to disclose how they use AI, and the way AI monitors applicants throughout the hiring process, were cited as rejection factors at a similar level.

Concerns about bias were also identified. Some 27 percent of respondents said they felt age discrimination in AI assessments, and 17 percent pointed to bias related to race or ethnicity. The findings reflect a view that hiring AI is worsening existing hiring problems rather than improving efficiency.

Still, jobseekers did not call for AI to be excluded entirely from hiring. The survey found only 19 percent of respondents wanted less AI in recruitment. Instead, there were stronger demands for companies to provide clear safeguards and options.

More specifically, 40 percent said companies should disclose from the outset that AI is being used, and 36 percent said companies should clearly explain what AI measures. Another 45 percent said they needed the option to interview with a person instead of an AI interview. Only about 1 in 10 respondents said employers currently have a clear AI policy. Some 59 percent said such notice should become a legal obligation.

Daniel Chait (대니얼 체이트), Greenhouse chief executive and co-founder, said AI in hiring is already worsening a system that has problems. Applications have increased, but meaningful signals and transparency have declined, he said.

Chait also pointed to structural problems in the hiring process itself. "The hiring process that includes AI was broken from the start," he said, adding that applicants' complaints about writing resumes and complex application procedures are accumulating. He said a 15-minute AI conversation that lets applicants show themselves could be a better starting point than a resume filled with keywords, but added the change should come from building a better hiring process rather than layering AI over a broken one.

The survey showed the debate around hiring AI is shifting from whether to adopt it to transparency, explainability and the option to switch to a human interview. It also reaffirmed that companies need to secure applicants' trust first if they are to keep expanding AI as a hiring tool.