Tag Archives: AI

AI to manage your hiring

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Would you trust AI to manage your hiring process?

Modern technology is a wonderful thing. It’s helped us connect across the globe, create virtual worlds and even land on Mars. But are there some advances in technology that may hold us back? Would you use AI to manage your hiring process?

In recent times, more and more businesses are using AI within their recruitment processes. This helps to sort through job applications and find the best candidates.

Companies such as McDonald’s, JP Morgan and Kraft Heinz have adopted these processes. It is only a matter of time before we see AI technology taking an even more prevalent role when it comes to finding a job.

AI to manage your hiring

How AI is changing the recruiter skill set of the future? As AI continues to automate the recruiting process, recruiter skill sets are changing rapidly.

How does it work?

A recent report by the BBC followed the experience of Andrea Murad, a journalist who went through an AI recruitment process to get through to the next stage of hiring. In this example, she was given a range of tests to complete at home to analyse her personality. The results of which would either give her the thumbs up to continue on, or would drop her out of the running.

Run by a New York based first called Pymetrics, the questions that Murad answered are designed to evaluate different aspects of a person’s personality and intelligence. This includes their tolerance of risk and how a person reacts to different situations.

Not all AI processes are the same. They can be tailored depending on the skill sets the recruiter is looking for in their new hire. Some use algorithms to analyse how candidates answer preselected questions in a recorded video interview. As well as, grading their responses and even their facial movements to make decisions on whether to move them forward to the next stage or not.

The benefits of using AI to manage your hiring

Some of the benefits of using this form of technology in the recruitment process are obvious. For example, allowing a machine to weed out some of the less appropriate applicants saves an awful lot of time for a firm. Especially if they have received an excessive amount of submissions for a role.

It also removes any potential unconscious bias that may have previously occurred if a person was to manage the first stages of the process, completely taking the emotional side out of hiring.

It can also lead to more positive experiences for the candidate. Allowing them to get through the process faster and have a better understanding of their suitability to a role.

The downsides

Whilst the introduction of this form of technology can produce positive results, there are also risks involved.

The most obvious is a lack of accuracy. Although AI has come a long way in recent years, it is absolutely far from perfect. It can be lacking in reliability – especially when it comes to something as important as hiring the right person for a job. As well as, when using AI to manage your hiring process, you take away the personal interaction.

Due to the limited list of keywords and algorithms that the technology relies on, this can provide loopholes for candidates who are clued up on the process and let through people who aren’t as appropriate, whilst shutting out people who should be let through.

Hiring in this way also produces a lack of accountability for the hiring managers, potentially leading to poor decision making.

The future of recruitment

Management are worried they could be missing out on recruiting the best talent

It’s safe to say that in the world we live in now, faster and more accurate recruitment is absolutely something that we need. By using technology to achieve this is certainly not something that should be taken off the table.

As with any new process, there will always be challenges. However, with challenges come solutions and the opportunity to create something better and more appropriate.

The technology behind AI is constantly improving and transforming how businesses recruit. As well as how they support, develop and retrain their workforce. We have no doubts that this new approach to hiring is here to stay.

We suggest if you’re looking at taking on AI to manage your hiring in your business, is to do your due diligence. Make sure this is something that will move you forward, rather than holding you back.

If you want to speak to LIS about any of our support or software development services, contact The LIS Help Desk today. We provide a range of solutions that can be tailored to suit your specific needs and requirements.

LIS – DIGITAL SECURING YOUR DIGITAL WORLD

#AIinterviews #CanWeDoItBetter #ComputerSaysNo

Robots conducting job interviews?

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“Congratulations, you have been selected for an interview. For the professional minigamer position at Open Mind Corporation,” a robotic voice announces over a blank screen. “My name is Alex. I will be guiding you through the interview. The whole process will take no more than 10 minutes. Let’s hear your voice. … Smile for the camera. … Welcome to the interview.” Robots conducting job interviews help companies save time, money and keep social distancing

The conversational AI recruitment technology is validated and proven to objectively assess general work performance. As well as, identify competent candidates and reduce the risk of faulty recruitments. Designed and produced by Tengai AB is a HR Tech start up based in Sweden that is combining AI and an unbiased recruitment methodology in the world’s first interview robot.

Robots conducting job interviews?

Unbiased interviewer Tengai now available in English

Robots conducting job interviews: How it works

How exactly AI interviews work remains something of a mystery. The tech is driven by an interest in increasing efficiency in the interview process. The virtual interviewer/robot asks a standard set of questions (pre-designed rather than spontaneous or follow-up questions that probe into answers). It then evaluates candidates’ responses, including physical reactions and the cluster of words used. The physical reactions under scrutiny could include micro expressions. Unlike regular facial expressions which are difficult to hide or manipulate. As well as other forms of body language, vocal tone and volume and response time. Don’t panic just yet, it doesn’t appear that the algorithms judge an applicant’s appearance.

But how can the robot evaluate whether an answer shows ingenuity and creativity? As well as business acumen, a capacity for empathy or a collegial vibe? Doesn’t it take a seasoned interviewer—much less one with a pulse!—to do that?

Well, it’s conceivable that an algorithm could detect things like enthusiasm, passion, confidence and the quality of an applicant’s vocabulary, right? And isn’t it also conceivable that an algorithm could measure a candidate’s appreciation for social cues by examining responses and expressions? 

Large companies embrace the new technology

These systems are now being used by major companies, including Unilever, Vodafone, Intel, L’Oréal, Mars, and Citibank, to name but a few. Kevin Parker, CEO of Utah-based HireVue, one of the more prominent platforms in the space, tells me that one of the company’s customers, “a large grocery chain in the U.S.,” used the platform to interview about 20,000 people a day for stocker and cashier jobs. But A.I. interviews are also being used for internships and professional positions, especially in the age of social distancing.

Robots conducting job interviews: The risks

Some fear that AI run amok could engender disparate impact discrimination claims (i.e., where a facially neutral policy or practice disproportionately and adversely affects individuals with legally protected characteristics). For example, there is a fear that since AI may involve machine learning. The robot may develop assumptions over time regarding the suitability of certain groups of people for employment based on historical interview results with respect to members of those groups. 

If this technology does become the norm, some new skills will suddenly become just as important as your work experience, education and professional referrals. Whether you’re a database administrator or a regional sales rep, you might want to enrol yourself in an acting class or get a poker coach. “Impression plays a major role in personality analysis,” the researchers said. A study found that 7% of a person’s impression depends on the spoken word. 38% on vocal sounds and a whopping 55% on facial expressions.

The human touch

A recent study revealed that the number one reason customers dread calling companies for support is the growing probability that they will encounter a bot instead of a human upon connection.

LIS clients benefit from the human touch. We do not have robots that deal with our client issues. Contact the LIS Help Desk for an IT audit. You are only a phone call or email away from an IT partner that can help your business save time and money.

LIS – SECURING YOUR DIGITAL WORLD

#AI #Interviews #ITSupport #Technews

 

Google Assistant Features

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Google Assistant is a capable helper but adjusting these options will protect your privacy and put you in control. We have put together a short guide of five Google Assistant features you should turn off right now.

Business Insider take a look how to turn off or limit Google Assistant Features, if you don’t want it listening to you all of the time.

Make life easier with Google Assistant Features

You can use Google Assistant Features to set timers, call friends or restaurants for takeout and so much more. It’s certainly convenient to have Google around to answer quick questions. It will even report on the day’s weather or control your smart home. Still, there are some things you might want to disable on your Google smart speaker or smart display. After all, every feature of Google Assistant won’t be a good fit for everyone.

Whether you’re worried about privacy or just want a more natural conversation experience, here are five things to toggle off to get a simpler and safer Google Assistant experience.

Google Assistant Features

One of Google Assistant’s most powerful features is its ability to act as the hub for your connected smart home of office.

Voice recording settings

Google recently announced changes to its voice recording privacy settings. Unless you opt in, Google won’t save your audio recordings or share them with its human analyzers to improve Google’s algorithms. However, if you opted in or have previously saved audio recordings, you can choose how long Google keeps them or manually delete them.

To adjust these settings, visit your Home app, tap on your profile picture in the top right, followed by Assistant Settings. There, you’ll land on the You tab. Select Your Data in the Assistant and scroll down to Audio Recordings. Tap to see options for saving, reviewing and deleting recordings.

Continued conversation

Continued Conversation helps Google listen for follow up questions without you having to say “Hey, Google” a second time. While this is handy, the extra listening can sometimes be less than seamless, especially when you don’t have a follow up question or you’re just asking a question of someone else in the room. Luckily, you can turn off this feature.

To turn off Continued Conversation in the Home app, tap on your profile picture in the top right, followed by Assistant Settings. In the next screen, navigate to the Assistant tab. There you’ll see several options including Continued Conversation. You’ll be able to toggle off Continued Conversation and see which speakers it will affect.

“Hey Google” sensitivity

If you feel like you’re always waking up your smart speakers accidentally, the “Hey Google” sensitivity may be too high. You can adjust how well your Google Assistant responds to its wake word if it isn’t hearing you well enough or if it mistakes other words for its wake word.

To adjust the sensitivity in the Home app, tap on your profile picture in the top right, followed by Assistant Settings. In the next screen, navigate to the Assistant tab and you’ll see several options including “Hey Google” sensitivity. There you’ll be able to adjust the sensitivity for each individual speaker in your home. Select the speaker you’d like to adjust and choose from five settings from “least sensitive” to “most sensitive.”

Ask Google

You can ask your Google Assistant for info and help with everyday tasks. Ask it questions and tell it to do things.
It’s always ready to help you get things done.

Camera settings

If you use a Google-enabled smart display like the Nest Hub Max, Lenovo Smart Display or JBL Link View, you may want to keep your camera disabled when you’re not making video calls. Each display does this a little differently. While JBL and Lenovo offer physical shutter options, you don’t get a built-in shutter with Google’s in-house display, the Nest Hub Max.

Instead, there’s a toggle button on the back of the display to disable the camera and microphone. An indicator light beside the camera lens shows the current status. This is a tough one, because you’ll need to remember to switch it on and off each time you use a camera feature. Still, having the option to make sure your camera is off when it needs to be is important.

Activity controls

Like voice recordings, Google saves information on the sites and apps you use with your Google account. If you’re concerned about privacy, adjusting these settings offers some peace of mind.

In the Home app, tap on your profile picture in the top right, followed by Assistant Settings. Tap the three dots on the top right of your screen and select Google activity controls. There, you’ll see a page with options for controlling which information Google gathers from your online and mobile app activity. You also can turn on auto-delete and choose how often your data is removed.

Whether you adjust one or all of these settings, personalizing your voice assistant can make the entire experience much more pleasant. If you live in a large household, features like Voice Match and Household Contacts can help everyone live in harmony with the same devices.

“Hey LIS”. How can you help me?

Technology is always changing; upgrades need to be managed and don’t forget about security issues. LIS customers benefit from our years if IT knowledge. We managed their IT systems to allow them to concentrate on their business. Consider us like you PC doctor or Virtual IT PA.

Contact the LIS Help Desk to discuss your options and found out how easy it is to keep your systems up to scratch.

LIS – SECURING YOUR DIGITAL WORLD

#GoogleAssistant #ITSupport #Upgrades #Security

Robots that anticipate what you need

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Think robots are a thing of the future? Think again. Ocado Technology has created robots that anticipate what you need. Thomas Roszak was working as a maintenance technician at Ocado. Based in their giant warehouse in Hatfield when he received a very unusual assignment.

His regular job involved repairing and maintaining the online supermarket’s automated sorting and packing system. The system puts together grocery orders from customers. It can be physically demanding work, manipulating heavy panels and working with other pieces of bulky machinery.

Research and Development

In a project designed to ease that burden, Ocado Technology, had been developing robots. They anticipate what you need. Can recognise when a technician might need help. As well as stepping in with either the right tool or help with lifting.

Mr Roszak was asked to help test the machine. He saw it for the first time and was taken back to his childhood. He said “I grew up on movies like The Terminator. So, when I saw that robot, I was actually impressed with what it looked like. You can actually imagine it looks like a man.”

For Mr Roszak, the robot’s strength was a real asset. One test job involved removing a heavy metal plate from above head height. A human would struggle to hold the plate for more than two or three minutes. However, the robot found it “easy” to hold the plate in place, while Mr Roszak undid the bolts.

Read the full article from the BBC news team at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52547331

Robots that anticipate what you need

Experimenting with robots for grocery picking and packing

Ocado Technology often hits the news under headlines of innovation in the field of AI and robotics. Over the past couple of years, we’ve announced our involvement in several high-profile research projects. Including the SoMa soft manipulation system and the SecondHands technician robot. This is because our robotics research team faces a remarkable challenge. To develop smart and generalised robotic solutions. Systems capable of picking the 50,000 different items available on Ocado.com safely and reliably.

While humans can quickly learn and develop all manner of strategies for grasping various items based on what they intend to do with them, robots need to be taught these strategies and that’s why AI plays such an important role too.

Since this ever-growing range of products has different form factors and physical properties, the SoMa and SecondHands projects will help us develop a new suite of robotic grippers and grasping strategies in partnership with Europe’s leading technical universities. While making significant progress on those projects, we are also developing more immediate in-house solutions using off the shelf components that can pick a significant proportion of our products.

Today we’d like to introduce one of these new and exciting breakthroughs in robotic picking developed by Ocado Technology. The system has been designed by our robotics research team. To pick a range of groceries from our highly automated warehouses called Customer Fulfilment Centres.

How can we help?

We can’t build robots that anticipate what you need. However, LIS can help your business. with your IT requirements. Do you have a new idea that is in the research and development stage? If so, this would be an ideal opportunity to contact the LIS Help Desk. The business world is changing, and we are all relying on the latest technology. Make sure you stay ahead of the competition. Our friendly an experienced team are more than happy to help.

#RobotColleague #ThisIsCool #ThinkingRobot

Smart Home Gadgets

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Have you heard of Mrs Hinch? She has a massive following online for cleaning tips. However, while she is motivating us to clean and organise every inch of our homes, we don’t actually have enough time in the day. So, say hello to these smart home gadgets that will make cleaning fun and almost effort-free.

There are times when it is easier to use the conventional methods. The time taken to connect the bedroom light to the smart system may be more than the time saved actually pressing a switch.

It’s satisfying to say, “Hey, Siri, it’s movie night”. Watch as the lights dim, the blinds slide closed and the TV switches on.

Make sure your home passes the white glove test

Satisfying pictures of organised cupboards with colour coordinated products all lined perfectly in a row have taken over our Instagram feeds with accounts like @thehomeedit boasting over a million followers.

Had a long day in the office or looking after the kids? Don’t have the time or the patience to complete the tiring chores? We may have found solutions to help you.

There has been impressive innovation in the cleaning product sphere where you no longer need to spend an entire weekend scrubbing, dusting and vacuuming every inch of your home thanks to gadgets designed to do the work for you – elbow grease not required. Forget clunky traditional vacuums and think robots. They navigate themselves around the floor picking up dirt and dust along the way.

 

Smart Home Gadgets

Smart home cleaning gadgets that will save you time

We have sourced clever gadgets that will leave your home looking spick and span.
www.thehandbook.com/london-guidebook/so-fresh-so-clean-12-home-gadgets-so-good-theyll-make-cleaning-fun

We spend money on the latest smart home gadgets to save us time. Why not make sure you have the same protection for your computer system? If you PC, laptop or network needs a spring clean then contact our sales team on 01245 323900 or email enquiries@lisltd.co.uk

#CleanHomeGadgets #MrsHinchTech #Anti-Virus #Anti-Spam