This Week, In Recruiting - Issue 108

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Open Kitchen:?Summarising the Arguments For and Against Slowing Down AI (Pt2)

So last week, we laid out the basic arguments FOR slowing down the rate of innovation in AI. There is probably now a popular majority for this position, amongst the recruiter community and also in the public at large, at least in the Global North (notably big economies in the Global South, India and China in particular, have a broadly pro AI view).

For the recruiting community, the poll I have been running in the Sunday newsletter gives this result, from a sample of 200 or so who have voted.

However, there is a strong case for AGAINST slowing down the rate of innovation and Open Kitchen will today sketch out what these arguments are so that P11 and Pt2 can be read together if ever you find yourself with a deciding vote on the matter ??

1. Economic Benefit of Reversing Productivity Decline

Anybody who has used Generative AI in any serious way will say the same thing - there are insane productivity gains to be had for users who get to grips with it. If you think about it, most knowledge work that workers do involve ingesting information, manipulating it in some way, before outputting information is some form. This is basically what mechanics of Generative Artificial Intelligence, and it can consistently do it better than humans. The best evidence we have this is in the world of software development where software engineers who have embraced GitHub Copilot in the past year report significant improvements on code quality and coding output. Aggregated data from GitHub is as close to proof as we're going to get - 56% of all code accepted on the platform is now generated by AI. It will soon inevitably be 99%.

Now translate this into the other areas of the white collar economy. It would reverse the productivity decline which has plagued advanced economies since the Great Financial Crisis of 2008. Getting more stuff done, more quickly and at higher quality seems to be an obvious good, which we would frustrate by trying to slow down the rate of AI innovation.

2. Accelerate Scientific Breakthroughs

Pre-AI, there was a serious conversation in the scientific community as to why major scientific breakthroughs were no longer occurring at the expected rate. In fact, there appeared to be a long term trend where significant discoveries were declining at a linear rate. No one quite knows why, though the argument that the 'publish or perish' pressure on scientists was leading to lower risk studies being pursued in order to increase the chances of successful experiments. It was better for individual researchers to be able to submit a successful paper on something inconsequential, rather than report a failure or a disproval of a hypothesis.

Can AI help reverse this trend? It will certainly make experimentation cheaper, and therefore reduce the risks researcher have to take. This should mean greater experimentation overall and more riskier experimentation as AI's capability of crunching through datasets will expand the options of what constitutes a reasonable risk. We have already seen some evidence that AI powered research will produce real breakthroughs, particularly in the fields of pharmacology and climatology. We should not slow down the rate of AI innovation because it will slow down the rate of all innovation and we may not be able to afford that.

3. National and Corporate Competitiveness

The world is divided into 195 countries, some of whom are capable of making sovereign decisions in the national interest. Those countries have no reason to think that other countries might not wish them harm, particularly if there is historical precedent of doing so. Absent the level of trust between international actors that would be required to coordinate any cessation or slow down of AI innovation, it is difficult to see how any of the measures would be effective at global scale.

Add this to the fact that our divided world seems to have very different attitudes to the advent of AI. Could it be that concern over AI innovation is a 'luxury belief', one which the privileged can afford to be concerned about as we are not the ones currently bearing the consequences of the world pre-AI? We should not slow down AI innovation rate because if we don't do it, someone else is going to.

4. There is No Point

If we accept that we Artificial Intelligence is going to be an indelible part of our future as a species, we need to ensure that we have the appropriate level of concern to the actual level of risk; of course, we have seen evidence of the misuse of AI, but any technological breakthrough has such potential and we can think of no example where we would prefer to have not had that innovation. The discovery of fire was the necessary precursor to arson, the invention of the printing press unleashed social revolutions, the splitting of the atom produced the war crimes of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And yet, no one would want a world where these innovations did not exist, because on balance, our lives have been improved by them.

Consequently, AI needs to be considered in the same way; acceptance of inevitability of misuse but with the requirement of building controls and environment which mitigates its misuse. In any case, slowing the down the innovation rate without building the institutional controls around its use, would not do much other than defer a challenge into the future which we might as well deal with now.

5. There is No Way

Advocates of slowing down the innovation rate of AI have conspicuously failed to come up with a suggested method of doing so. Even if we international agreement could be made between sovereign states, there is nothing stopping individuals from conducting entirely independent and unseen experiments with this class of technologies. Unquestionably this is already happening, as we can see with the 1000's of new tools and apps being produced daily by enthusiasts worldwide. What is the suggested mechanism for preventing this work? The crude instrument of the law would be wholly unsuitable.

To stop AI innovation now would require the same type of method in any future state where AI does indeed become malevolent and needs to be destroyed. Are we ready now for a Butlerian Jihad against AI? It's unrealistic to expect this to happen against theoretical risk, especially given that we do not appear to respond to risk until we have fully experienced its consequences. We should not stop AI innovation then, because we lack the social technology to do so.

OK so that is it for now. I am sure there are plenty more arguments FOR and AGAINST slowing down AI innovation. Have read these two parters, which side are you on? Comment below, let start a conversation on this!

But in the meantime, out of the kitchen, onto the lounge ??

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What's in the News?

Radancy Acquire Ascendify

Radancy tool up, with the acquisition of Ascendify, one of the first talent relationship management tools to really get product market fit for recruiters. Radancy CEO Michelle Abbey's words on the deal here

If you are a recruitment service provider or technology business and have any news to share,?comment below,?this is your application to get into next week's addition of This Week, In Recruiting. Make sure to?@ mention me so that I see it

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What's Going On?

Big List of Recruitment & HR Events to Attend in 2023

We're into Q2 and we should be cranking up the events over the next few months. The Big List of Recruitment & HR Events in 2023 is your best friend folks, make sure you download or bookmark this spreadsheet - it is updated every week. Going to and holding an event which isn't appearing on this spreadsheet? Add it to the?bottom of the sheet?and I will merge it in.

AI and Candidate Experience, Thurs 13th April, 5pm BST / 9am PDT

This is turning out to be one of the most fun series I've done this year - it's AI and how it intersects with a different stage of the recruiting process. We're talking about AI + Candidate Experience this week - what impact does AI have on one of the most persistent problems in recruiting? We're with Yasar Ahmad, Global VP of Talent Mobility & Rewards (HelloFresh), Kevin Grossman, President (The Talent Board), with Siadhal Magos, CEO (Metaview) in as co-pilot. Register?here

Brainfood Live On Air - Ep201 - Prompt Engineering for Sourcing, Fri 14th April, 2pm BST

Can we come up with a library of Prompts for Sourcing? That is the aim of this show, so if you are recruiting and want to actually get actionable resources for getting better today, this is show for you. With Denys Dinkevych, Global Talent Sourcer (Spendesk), Irina Shamaeva, Partner (Brain Gain Recruiting) & Greg Hawkes, Principal Sourcing Leader M&T Bank. Register here

How Recruitment Agencies Can Present 'Wild Card' Candidates, Tues 18th April, 2pm BST

Plenty of folks getting excited for this one - how to present WILD CARD candidates to skeptical hiring managers and clients? We've all been there and I daresay we've all had some intermittent success in doing it. But is it possible to be more consistent, is there is system we can use to more regularly position unconventional candidates into positions where they can succeed? With the legendary James Osborne, Founder (The Recruitment Network), along with Emira Blomberg, Chief Strategy Officer (Refapp) and David Nasstrom, CEO (Refapp). Register?here

'The Candidate Journey in a Post-Pandemic World; the Recruiter Mindset has Changed, has Yours?, Tues 18th April, 2pm BST

Really interesting webinar from our friends at Tribepad, where we try and figure out how recruiters need to change our mindset and behaviour to compete for the attention of the post pandemic candidate. With Ursula James, Director at Relish Care Recruitment and Andrew Wood, Director at Home Instead. Register here

Talent Acquisition Conference, Tues 9th May, Athens, Greece

Debut of my talk 'Trust Relationships in the Era of Generative AI'. This will be one of three talks I'll be giving this year and I hope that you will enjoy it. The central thesis will be how we as humans can compete for attention with software which can create better content than we do. I have a theory on how we can do it. Come to Athens folks, see you there. Register?here

TruAmsterdam, 11 May, Teleportboulevard 121 1043EJ Amsterdam Netherlands

The line up here looks immense: Martijn Smit, Marcel van der Meer, Esther van Aalst, Aaltje Vincent, Koos Wurzer. Bill Boorman, Kevin Wheeler. Eugene van den Hemel, Eva Balúchová, Max Hunter, Arjan Elbers?and many more. I am going - are you? Tickets here

Hired!BCN, Thurs 15th June, Barcelona, Spain

Looking forward to this event, as much as any other. The reason is the crew here have put together an amazing community atmosphere which prioritises people's experience. The speakers always step up in response. Join us in Barcelona folks, I am in but I need to figure out what to talk about....register?here. PS: I got a discount code - comment below DISCOUNT and I will DM you a special link for 10% off.

How to Cut Time to Hire by 50% With Marketing Automation, Tues 16th May, 2pm BST

Marketing automation....I really wish I was any good at it. I know that for a guy who sends newsletters, this really should be one of the things I excel at, but alas....good news that we have Lauren Johnston in conversation with me on how to get good at this part of the process, applied to recruitment. Don't miss this folks - register here

RecFest USA, 13-14th Sept, Nashville, Tennessee, USA

So what's happening in Nashville, Tennessee? As an very early fan of country music (Mother was a Dolly fan in the '70s), I am excited to go to one of the centres of the genre, and maybe say hello to Ms Parton herself. Anyways, going to be at Recfest USA, where I will be delivering a talk on Trust. Tickets are a BARGAIN at $99 per person (you read that right). Come along to this and you will have the best time of your professional life. Get tickets?here

If you have an event, webinar or podcast going on next week and want it featured on next week's newsletter,?comment below?with the link and event details. Don't forget to at mention me so that I see it

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Whose Story?

It's Sofiya Valshonok, Global HR & Recruitment Leader

We're back with another 20 Questions with members of the community. This week it is the turn of Sofiya Valshonok, who first connected with very recently and through our chat it became obvious that the best thing we could do to get to know each other better was to work on a piece for the Brainfood Tribune. I asked Sofiya 20 Questions - here are her answers

If you want to do 20 Questions, comment below and say so! This is an open invitation to anyone who is

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Whose Available?

Recruiters remain disproportionately impacted by lay offs....and why wouldn't we be? What is important now is to make sure that you get connected with companies that are actively hiring for recruiters, and you can do that by joining Brainfood Talent Community. It's free, confidential and open only to approved employers. If you're hiring for recruiters or HR staff, apply for a free company account and get access?here, using this code 'BTCFREE' for 100% usage. If you're a recruiter or HR person looking for work, you can apply?here, and increase your exposure to employers vetted by me!

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Who's Posting?

Big List of Places to Post Jobs (Globally)

500+ job boards, community spaces and marketplaces where you can post jobs you are hiring for, filtered by over 50 countries. This spreadsheet is ideal for those of you who are hiring internationally for specific locations and want to connect with local job boards and providers. Crowdsourced, so open for anyone to edit and update. Bookmark it?here?folks.

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Who's Moving?

Austin Sears joins Adyen as Tech Recruitment Business Partner. I first met Austin years ago in Helsinki and it's been great to track his career since then. Some CV being built here - Zalando, Unity, Miro...if you want some one how knows how to scale up tech teams, Austin is your man.

Pavi Iyer joins Mindset Health as Head of People & Talent, having previously led the people departments at companies such as Liven, CyberCX, Mazda, University of Melbourne and more. Lot to be said for having diverse sectoral experience, cool to see this. Good luck in the new role Pav - hope to see you soon ??

Tyler Brann joins Cafe Media as Director, Recruitment Solutions. Is the Creator Economy the future of work in an AI-enabled world? Fascinating place to find out from a recruiter who has previously worked at fellow media platforms such as Spotify and Anchor. Need to do a Brainfood Live on this!

Jorick Thijs Polderman?joins InBank as Head of Recruitment, having previously worked at companies such as Nortal, Moss, Wise and Randstadt Sourceright. Great to see this type of career progression taking place, Tallinn has become one of the best places in Europe to do it.

Guch Singh joins Datacamp as Head of Talent Acquisition. The world is about to be data driven whether we like it or not, and we humans need to rapidly up skill on how to ingest it. Good place to do some recruiting I'd say.

Chelsea Kovak joins Taskrabbit as Senior Manager Talent Acquisition, having previously spent time at Capsule, The Farmer's Dog, WeWork and Fundera. Some cool employers there - I have to say sometimes when I look back at my career, I wish I had the chance to work and build some cool B2C consumer tech like this!

Promotions to celebrate: Oliver Parent goes up to Head of Talent Acquisition at Zego, Lacy Hood goes up to People and Culture Manager at Fors Marsh, Laura O'Callaghan is promoted to Head of Talent Acquisition at Spendesk, Gabor Antal goes up to Senior Internal Talent Acquisition Manager and Cari Ducoff is promoted to Area Director at Adecco - congratulations all!

If you have made a senior exec appointment to your business,?and feel the wider community needs to know about it,?comment below?with the details and see it featured in next weeks issue.?Don't forget to @ mention me in it so that I see it

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What Are You Doing?

The incredible James Osborne, Founder (The Recruitment Network) is running the 100KM Ultra Marathon, Race to the Stones, to raise money for Group B Strep Support (GBSS). Those who know James will know the personal story behind this campaign. Please read this and support as you can!

If you are doing something new,?comment below?with what it is and share a link to where you want people to go. Don't forget to mention me in it so that I see it

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End Notes

Sending this on Tuesday as I'm guessing that most people are having the Monday off. I hope that the timing suits everybody and you have time to read this before your inbox gets crushed with to-do's. Lets enjoy the short week, for those of us who have it.

Have a good one folks

Hung

Hung Lee is the curator of?Recruiting Brainfood, and now This Week In Recruiting. Subscribe to both if you are into recruiting or HR or just interested in world of work.