Illustration: Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Getty Images
With so many competing AI systems interfering with online application portals, applying for a new job in 2026 could feel more like applying for a bank loan than looking for a job.
At least, that’s what a group of disgruntled job seekers are claiming in a lawsuit against an AI screening company called Eightfold AI. According to new york timesthe plaintiffs argue that Eightfold’s employment screening software should be subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a regulation that protects information collected by consumer credit reporting agencies.
The reason, they say, lies deep within Eightfold’s AI algorithm, which actively trolls LinkedIn and creates a data set of “1 million job titles, 1 million skills, and over 1 billion profiles of people working in every job, profession, industry, and region.” That dataset is used for marketing materials to help sell your services to potential customers.
Using AI models trained on that data, Eightfold scores job applications on a scale of 1 to 5 based on the applicant’s skills, experience, and the recruiter’s goals, the plaintiffs say. In short, their argument is that it bears no resemblance to the opaque rules used to manage consumer credit scores.
But with Eightfold, applicants have no way of knowing what their final score will even be. Moreover, there is no way to know what steps the system took to calculate the score. It creates a “black box”. In other words, those who are subject to algorithmic decisions can only see the outcome of the system, not the process that led to it. And even if Eightfold’s AI starts building something on the fly (a notorious problem with AI models), job seekers have no way of knowing.
There is also the issue of data retention. With no way to peek under the hood, we don’t know how much data Eightfold collects from job seekers’ resumes or what the AI company and its customers are doing with it.
“I believe I have a right to know what is being collected about me and shared with my employer,” said Erin Kistler, one of the plaintiffs. new york times. “And they don’t give me any feedback, so I can’t address the problem.”
Kistler, who has decades of experience in computer science, told the magazine that he kept strict records of the scores of every application submitted last year. Of the “thousands of jobs” she applied for, only 0.3% made it to a follow-up or interview.
All of this highlights the sad state of the job market, which has become a dystopian nightmare thanks to AI recruiting tools. It remains to be seen whether this lawsuit can gain enough traction to challenge the vast legal gray areas around AI employment. If that happens, it could bring relief to millions of depressed job seekers whose careers are literally on the brink.
Eightfold AI did not respond new york timesThis is a comment request from .
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