AI can predict future salary just from a person's photo, scientists say
Scientists claim that AI analysis of a person's features based on a photograph can predict their success in the labor market.
Scientists claim that AI analysis of a person's features based on a photograph can predict their success in the labor market.
The authors of the study emphasize that they are not advocating the use of this method, as determining personality by facial features is fundamentally discriminatory. However, they note that personality assessments are already common practice among admissions committees and HR departments, and AI tools for such testing are being implemented extremely quickly. Therefore, they argue that scientific evaluation of this technology is urgently needed.
In a paper titled “Extracting Personality Traits from Faces Using AI: Implications for the Job Market,” the researchers describe how they used profile photos of over 96,000 MBA graduates on LinkedIn, The Register reports .
Using artificial intelligence, scientists analyzed faces to extract five main personality traits of the participants — openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional instability.
According to the authors, their algorithm “uses facial features to predict the personality qualities that a person claims, rather than how others perceive their personality based on appearance.”
Using this technology, researchers found that "character data read from the face allows for significantly more accurate predictions of career success and income levels."
Researchers found that using machine learning to identify personality traits from facial photographs made it possible to obtain accurate predictions about the ranking of bachelor's and MBA programs a person graduated from, their starting salary, income growth trajectory, and frequency of job changes.
If HR used a similar methodology to assess the personality of candidates for management positions, the results could be a predictor of the applicant’s future success in the job market—no matter how biased it may be. And that’s exactly what seems to be happening now.
Study co-author Marina Nissner, an assistant professor of finance at Indiana University, said institutions like banks are already using personality surveys to make hiring and promotion decisions. She added that HR technology companies are starting to use the Big Five personality test during video interviews.
“The legal framework in this area is still very vague,” explains Nissner. “We are not saying that this method is acceptable or that businesses should implement it. But in order to start a serious discussion of regulations and restrictions at the state level, we first need to have a solid scientific expertise on these technologies.”
The study authors argue that AI-assisted selection should be considered in conjunction with the alternative—human decisions based on appearance, which can also be inconsistent or biased.
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