I had a very bad and awkward experience last week when interviewing an intern at my current position. This person was very very lost. I tried to put myself in his/her - for the sake of keeping it private, just in case - shoes.
Imagine yourself (again) as a last year of university student, excited to finish with all the bureaucracy to finally have a paper that says You have successfully qualified as a functional person in our society, with the wish to start generating income as soon as possible to get out of your parents home and live a long and fulfilling life as an adult.
Well, here is the thing, we were all lost at that age - except our grandparents who were probably escaping a war or fighting for their countries' independence. But you get the point. The beginning of your 20s. Trying to get your first office job.
S/he was extremely nervous, extremely inexperienced and had/s no idea were she was/is getting into. Obviously, his/her major concern was to be able to do a thesis with our company and get some income. That's it. Long story short. I was afraid of showing her the reality of the situation. There was someone in the process who can clearly benefit - not sure how - by having this intern in the company but, to be honest, it was not a good fit. Not for us. For him/her.
Why was I so afraid of telling the truth to this person? The truth was: you'll hate being here, we are not doing what you want to do and I have no moral rights to destroy your future by shaping it in the wrong path. Was I afraid of the consequences of me saying this or what?
This of course kept me thinking 🤔 We all do this. We are all afraid of saying something at some point. However, by not saying something because of being afraid... are we eventually lying? Can we use AI to prevent this situation?
Yes, I just try to solve everything with AI. Or maybe I am just constantly thinking about it until I finally generate that next billion dollar company with one of these ridiculous ideas that I come up with.
However, think about it. We can make an AI fact-checker. Or can we not?
It sounds like we can just have something that will give a number to this person with the probability of him/her actually liking the company or being a fit - we all make better decisions if we get a scale to chose from. Right? But I think it can actually become more complex than that. See, I was the only one in that conversation and while I actually believed that this person might not end up doing 100% what s/he wants to do - s/he can still benefit from joining. S/he is still inexperienced. You can't decide on a fit on things that you don't even know exists. Plus, the algorithm would be very biased against opinions from current employees, for example.
Remember that AI is not always Artificial Intelligence, it can be Augmented Intelligence. The score of AI with facts can still help ourselves tell the truth. To some extend. If there is a number on the table, that we all understand, it can be easier for me to explain the why - which is already better than not saying anything or turning a bad argument into a lie.
I think this is also a very complex topic and I am messing up the thoughts in my head. What do you think? Should I stop trying to put AI in every single aspect of my life?
