Happy Hump Day {{first_name | Toaster}} 🐪 ,

We recently saw a post from our friends at Growclass that made us stop scrolling. It was about a class action law suit against Eightfold AI, a company behind one of the many artificial intelligence tools transforming how companies hire. They noted that some of these new applications of AI are starting to feel like a Black Mirror episode, and honestly, it’s not hard to see why.

A world where a system you’ve never met can analyze your experience, predict your potential, and influence whether you get an interview sounds like the kind of dystopian plotline we’d watch while thinking, “glad that’s not real.” Except parts of it already are.

The lawsuit has raised concerns about how these systems evaluate job seekers behind the scenes. Eightfold’s technology uses large amounts of data to create candidate profiles and generate insights into skills, behaviours, preferences, and potential fit. Candidates may receive a score or ranking, but they may not know they were evaluated, what information was used, or why they were ranked a certain way.

For years, job seekers have complained about applicant tracking systems (ATS). You know the ones: upload your resume, answer 47 questions, and hope your application survives the keyword and formatting filters. It was frustrating, but at least you could understand the rules and work around them.

AI-powered hiring introduces a different problem: being evaluated by a system you cannot see, question, or correct. We are moving from being able to understand why you were rejected to never knowing you were judged at all.

Technology has always shaped how we work, but it’s not the robots that scare us. The unsettling part of technology is losing the ability to advocate for yourself. Looking for a job is already a deeply vulnerable experience. You’re asking someone (or something) to look at years of your life, your skills, and your accomplishments and decide if you’re worth a conversation that will impact your career trajectory and ability to pay your bills.

Technology will continue to shape how we work, and there are many ways it can make recruiting faster and more accessible. The irony is that many companies turned to AI because they wanted to make hiring more objective. But objectivity without transparency can become a different kind of gatekeeper. The future of work shouldn’t be humans trying to beat an algorithm.

We’ve spent years telling job seekers to network harder, optimize their resumes, and “play the game.” But what happens when the game changes and nobody tells you the rules?

Team Toast 🥂

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Check the schedule above for your presale window and don't miss your chance to save. We can't wait to see you on October 1st for another unforgettable day of bold conversations, incredible speakers, and meaningful connections.

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