Dr. Brian Jabarian is an economist studying how new technologies reshape cognitive work, decision-making, and the design of firms, markets, and institutions.
Partnering with industry and public organizations, he runs experiments to study (i) the causal effects of AI on productivity, behavior, and organization in global markets; (ii) the ethical, institutional, and welfare consequences of AI transformation; (iii) the role of AI in accelerating scientific knowledge and transparency.
He is the Howard and Nancy Marks Fellow and Roman Family Center for Decision Research Principal Researcher at the University of Chicago Booth Business School. He is an Affiliated Researcher with the Booth Center for Applied AI, an Invited Researcher at J-PAL, a Research Network Member, Innovation Growth Lab (IGL), a Research Affiliate at Joint Initiative Latin American Experimental Economics (JILAEE), and a Research Network Affiliate at the Center for Economic Studies + Ifo Institute (CESifo).
Abstract
We study the impact of replacing human recruiters with AI voice agents to conduct job interviews. Partnering with a recruitment firm, we conducted a natural field experiment in which 70,000 applicants were randomly assigned to be interviewed by human recruiters, AI voice agents, or given a choice between the two. In all three conditions, human recruiters evaluated interviews and made hiring decisions based on applicants' performance in the interview and a standardized test. Contrary to the forecasts of professional recruiters, we find that AI-led interviews increase job offers by 12%, job starts by 18%, and 30-day retention by 17% among all applicants. To explain these results, we explore three channels. First, analyzing interview transcripts reveals that AI-led interviews elicit more hiring-relevant information from applicants compared to human-led interviews. Second, recruiters score the interview performance of AI-interviewed applicants higher, but place greater weight on standardized tests in their hiring decisions. Third, applicants accept job offers with a similar likelihood and rate interview, as well as recruiter quality, similarly in a customer experience survey. Moreover, when offered the choice, 78% of applicants choose the AI recruiter, and we find evidence that applicants with lower test scores are more likely to choose AI.
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