In "The Algorithm" Hilke Schellmann steers clear of the siren song of technology to present a nuanced and deeply researched evaluation of the role of AI technologies in the workplace and the affects they have on job seekers job seekers and employees. Although quick to acknowledge a few well documented successes the majority of the book does not portray recent advances of AI within the workplace in a positive light. In fact, Schellman's analysis serves as both an indictment of the failing of many of these technologies but also the incompetence, indifference and sometimes sinister behavior of many of the companies producing them. As such, this book is a loud and profound call to action. Schellman's work is indeed quite accessible and should be read by job seekers, those in affected workplaces and company executives contemplating implementing these technologies. Most importantly though, this book should be read by anyone working to create these technologies who lays claim to even the most minuscule amount of ethical sensibilities or common sense.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Hachette Books, for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

The premise of this book is that AI (machine learning that uses algorithms trained on vast amounts of data) is taking over the function of hiring and monitoring employee performance on massive scale. The author says that almost all Fortune 500 companies are using it now. The promise of AI use in hiring was that it would offer less bias and lower employer's costs. The reality is that AI is not less biased, and due to its sheer reach can thus discriminate against many more people. The book explains how AI works, what criteria and parameters are employed in various situations, it looks at several AI hiring software packages available and gives many examples of AI bias. The second part of the book is devoted to the procedures companies use to monitor employees including performance, online activities, personalities, their health. Even decisions to fire employees can be made with help from AI algorithms. The most fascinating aspect of the book is learning from many examples presented in the book how AI algorithm has so many blind spots and how careful employers using it should be but often they are not. Even though the book is primarily intended for HR, it is good for everybody in the labor market. People looking for a job will benefit greatly from the tips on how to apply for a job and craft their resume. Even if the software changes, the awareness of the AI operation and its pitfalls is still very useful and will benefit the readers.

When journalist Hilke Schellman set out to study AI tools’ impacts on the workplace, she was excited by the possibilities. What she found was much darker.

This book gives scary examples of the ways AI is being used to determine who companies will hire, promote and even fire. It shares examples like a makeup artist laid off by a beauty brand after “failing” an automated video interview (in what was almost surely a technical error) and an algorithm that downranked resumes with the word “women’s” (as in “women’s soccer team”) on them. What’s especially scary is that the discrimination baked into these decisions appears to be the result not of nefarious intentions, but in entrusting major decisions to half-formed, opaque algorithms.

I appreciated the research that went into this book. In addition to interviews with business leaders, AI developers and people harmed by these tools, the author was able to test out many of the tools for herself. I also appreciated the thoughtful way in which the author examined how these tools specifically harm disabled people and those with intersectional identities.

This book felt like a Black Mirror episode. The troubling part is that it’s all true.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC.

This book is scarily accurate in its account of Human Resource departments' new dependence on using the fallible AI as a recruiting tool which 'identifies and targets' the perfect fit for a job. Unfortunately, rather than that pronouncement being true, this tool (because it is being used without ANY human oversight) is instead exposing companies to potentially crippling lawsuits as it unfairly creates biases based on race, gender, as it introduced countless other prejudices to the matter of hiring, firing, and promoting human beings.

The research in this book is shockingly sound, and I hope that people read this book and pay attention to its dire warnings before this almost Orwellian nightmare spirals even further out of control as companies continue to "pile on" the AI train, without worrying about where that journey might eventually take them.