The Promise and Perils of AI in Talent Acquisition: Efficiency, Ethics, and Stakeholder Trust

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the way companies recruit and hire new employees by automating the hiring process, facilitating data-driven decision-making, and streamlining the hiring process. Even with these benefits, issues such as algorithmic bias, transparency, ethical governance, and candidate trust still make it hard to use AI for hiring responsibly. This study experimentally investigates the advantages and challenges of AI-driven recruitment processes in the Indian IT sector by incorporating perspectives from both HR experts and job applicants. A cross-sectional survey approach was employed to gather data from 432 respondents, which were subsequently analysed utilising descriptive statistics, t-tests, ANOVA, correlation, and regression. The results show that using AI reduces time-to-hire, lowers hiring costs, and improves the quality of candidate selection. However, the results also show that people remain concerned about algorithmic bias, a lack of transparency, and reduced confidence, especially among job seekers who have previously used AIbased hiring systems. The research emphasises the significance of hybrid AI-human decision-making models underpinned by ethical governance frameworks and transparent AI procedures. This research contributes to the AI-in-HRM literature by providing real-world evidence from a growing economy and offering managers and policymakers practical guidance on using AI to hire fairly, openly, and effectively.