Lawyers International Network for Employees and Executives (LINEE)

Thomas Rihm

Employee Facial, Voice, and Mind Reading Technology: Challenges for European and Swiss Data Protection Legislation

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Software that uses artificial intelligence in the employment relationship has become a reality not only in Switzerland but in other well-developed countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and the United States.

Audio and voice expression technology allows hiring managers to analyze the language, tone, and facial expressions using job candidates’ speech and verbal skills during online interviews streamed on their laptops or mobile devices. The applications’ algorithms try to identify and match thousands of pieces of facial and linguistic information compiled from previous interviews. Tools developed in Switzerland go even further, utilizing AI to essentially read candidates’ minds and greatly expanding what is commonly called “biometrics.”

It is therefore high time to explore in more detail how European data protection laws should address these new workplace technologies. The Swiss Federal Parliament is currently revising legislation enacted in 1992 to conform with European standards. Read more.

Job Interview 4.0: Legal Considerations for Automated Face and Speech Recognition

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Finally, you are invited to a job interview. You expect a staff member from human resources, but instead you sit opposite a robot. During the 30-minute interview, robots like “Matilda” or “Sophia” ask the candidate dozens of questions about motivation, career goals, or strengths and weaknesses. Cameras not only record the spoken word, but also the candidate’s facial expressions and gestures. The robot recognizes emotions in the candidate’s face and can react spontaneously. The combination of the generated responses and emotions results in a personality profile that is compared with existing data of successful employees and assigned to a category “suitable for the job” or “unsuitable for the job.”

AI in Recruiting

This scenario is not fiction, but reality nowadays. The U.S. American company “HireVue” and others advertise and sell their sophisticated video interview software towards large companies. While the applicant is interviewed comfortably from within his or her own four walls, up to 20,000 pieces of data can be collected from this interview and analyzed in record time, using algorithms to find the right employee.

And larger companies already use artificial intelligence in their global HR recruitment process. In Switzerland, companies like Credit Suisse utilize software to review applications and categorize applicants according to their suitability or unsuitability for the advertised position. Read more.