What is AI in recruitment?
AI in recruitment means using computer systems that, from data, produce predictions, recommendations, rankings or text to support hiring. The definition Ontario uses for its 2026 rules is broad: a machine-based system that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers from the input it receives how to generate outputs. Software that ranks resumes almost always falls within scope.
How is AI used in recruitment?
- Resume parsing: extracting skills, experience and education from a document.
- Matching: comparing a profile to a job and producing a score or ranking.
- Writing: generating a job ad, an outreach message or rejection feedback.
- Sourcing: finding profiles close to a need in a database, including a dormant talent pool.
- Scheduling and follow-up: reminders, nudges, interview summaries.
The risks
- Black box: a score with no explanation cannot be checked or challenged.
- Reproduced bias: a model that learns from past decisions can reproduce their bias, or lean on indirect proxies for protected grounds, such as an address.
- Automated decisions: rejecting candidates without human review triggers legal obligations and denies people a real answer.
- Extraction errors: a misread resume can make a real skill disappear.
Examples by jurisdiction
Ontario: mandatory disclosure in postings. Since January 1, 2026, an employer with 25 or more employees that uses artificial intelligence to screen, assess or select applicants must say so in every public job posting. It is the most concrete example in Canada of a transparency duty aimed at AI in hiring. The same rules require posting expected compensation, stating whether the job is an existing vacancy, and telling interviewed applicants, within 45 days, whether a decision has been made.
Quebec: exclusively automated decisions. Section 12.1 of the private sector privacy act requires a business that makes a decision based exclusively on automated processing to inform the person and, on request, explain the information used, the reasons and the main factors, with the option of having a person review the decision.
New York City: bias audits. Local Law 144, enforced since July 5, 2023, prohibits using an automated employment decision tool without a bias audit conducted within the past year, requires publishing a summary of the results, and requires notifying candidates 10 business days before use.
United States (federal). Anti-discrimination laws such as Title VII apply to hiring decisions regardless of the tool used to make them.
This summary is general information, not legal advice.
Best practices
- Demand explained scores (explainable AI). Every recommendation should say why.
- Keep the decision human. AI suggests, the recruiter decides and owns it.
- Disclose AI use in postings, even where it is not mandatory.
- Check outcomes by group and by source, regularly.
- Use AI to answer more, not to ignore more: the time saved should let you send a real answer to every candidate.
With RecruitEasy
RecruitEasy uses AI to analyze resumes, recommend candidates for a job and jobs for a candidate, and suggest feedback drafts. Every match score is explained. Public postings show an AI use notice by default, on the posting and the application form, which an organization can only remove by attesting that it has fewer than 25 employees. No feedback goes out without human approval, and location is never included. The complete guide to AI in recruitment covers use cases in depth.