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Founderz: Responsible Use of AI home

in collaboration with Microsoft

All scenarios

Workplace scenario · 09 of 13

You’re asked to rank job applicants with AI

Two hundred applications, one week and a suggestion from above.

The situation

A role has attracted 200 applications. Your manager suggests uploading them to an AI tool and interviewing the top ten it picks.

Principles involved

What do you do?

Choose the option you would take, then open it to see how it plays out. Reviewing the other options is part of the exercise.

Option A: Do it. It saves days.

Risky

Choosing who gets an interview is a decision about people. In the EU, AI used to screen or evaluate candidates is classified as high-risk, with strict obligations from December 2, 2027, and data protection rules apply to every application.

Option B: Do it, but remove names first.

Risky

Removing names doesn’t make the screening sound or lawful. The decision about people is still delegated.

Option C: Use AI for the administration, such as the job advert, interview questions and scheduling, and keep screening and decisions with people, through your HR process.

The best choice

You still save time, and the people deciding can explain each decision on criteria relevant to the job.

Option D: Refuse to use AI anywhere in hiring.

Safe, but it costs you

Administrative help is useful and low risk. The line is the decision about the person.

Takeaway

Decisions about people stay with people. Involve HR and legal before AI touches any step that affects who gets a chance.

Sources

What each source establishes, and its limits. The practices and recommendations on this page are ours, and the facts come from the sources. See every source we use.

  1. AI Act: regulatory framework for AI European Commission · Updated August 3, 2026 · Official summary The Commission’s summary of the AI Act. It lists AI tools for employment, management of workers and access to self-employment, such as résumé-sorting software, among high-risk uses, with obligations from December 2, 2027. Limits: A summary, not the legal text.
  2. Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation) European Union, Official Journal · April 27, 2016 · Law Defines personal data broadly (Article 4) and gives people rights around decisions based solely on automated processing that have legal or similarly significant effects on them (Article 22). Limits: Other countries have their own data protection laws. The European Commission has proposed changes to Article 22, so check whether they have been adopted.