AI chatbots used in hiring processes at multiple fast food restaurants created barriers to employment by failing to properly schedule interviews, miscommunicating applicant availability, and creating confusing multi-step application processes.
A job applicant applied to five fast food positions: Crumbl Cookies, McDonald's, Wendy's, Hardee's, and Waffle House, with only Waffle House using human contact during hiring. McDonald's used an AI chatbot named Olivia for screening questions, but the system failed to schedule an interview and instead provided only a generic corporate email when asked for assistance. At Wendy's, the AI chatbot successfully scheduled an interview but failed to communicate the applicant's availability to the hiring manager, resulting in a mismatch between available shifts and the applicant's schedule. The Crumbl Cookies application involved a complex multi-step process requiring texting a phone number, filling out a second application on a third-party platform, creating a video cover letter, and registering an applicant profile before revealing job conditions including $9.50 hourly pay and 18-hour minimum weekly commitment. At Hardee's, the AI system allowed rescheduling to Memorial Day when no manager was present, and provided no human contact for confirmation. The applicant noted these automated systems created confusion and barriers compared to the straightforward human-mediated process at Waffle House, where they successfully obtained employment within 48 hours.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Social and economic inequalities caused by widespread use of AI, such as by automating jobs, reducing the quality of employment, or producing exploitative dependencies between workers and their employers.
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Unintentional
Due to an unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed