What’s up with those TikTok videos where an AI-generated avatar fires people? Are they authentic? People are definitely being frightened by them.
In a recent series of widely shared films, some employees say AI fired them. They received videos created by artificial intelligence alerting them that they had been fired, not that AI took their place in the workplace.
Some of the videos, which have received over 2 million views on TikTok, show workers taping themselves while they are being dismissed by an AI avatar during a video conference call. The recordings are comparable to widely shared videos of employees being fired remotely by human human resources representatives via Zoom (ZM) calls. These videos gained popularity during the COVID pandemic and generated debate about how individuals will be fired in the future.
However, are the new videos that purport to depict humans being dismissed by AI avatars authentic? These TikTok videos purportedly depicting people getting fired by AI-generated videos do not seem to be real, according to a number of AI industry sources who watched the videos and spoke with MarketWatch for this story. They speculate that people may have been posting them to attract attention. Additionally, these experts stated that they have not witnessed instances of businesses terminating workers through AI-generated movies such as these.
Multiple requests for comment from MarketWatch were not answered by the TikTok accounts that uploaded the disputed videos.
Millions of views on these posts, however, indicate that there is interest in—and likely growing anxiety of—the possibility that this could be the future of being laid off, even if the videos aren’t real.
“That is so disrespectful omg,” “so dystopian,” and “feels like a Black Mirror episode” were among the comments left beneath the recordings.
“AI is already being used informally to decide who to interview, hire, and fire.” Amy Dufrane, CEO of HRCI, a career-building organization focused on human resources
Experts told MarketWatch that they haven’t yet seen any proof of AI videos being used to terminate employees, but that might change soon.
“It is evident that AI is already being used informally to decide who should be hired, fired, and interviewed. “This will soon be more formally established,” Amy Dufrane, CEO of HRCI, a career-building organization for human resources, told MarketWatch.
Even though AI-generated films aren’t being used by employers to fire employees right now, some experts, like Dufrane, believe it could happen in the future. In certain cases, direct managers are no longer in charge of terminations; instead, the task is being handled by less experienced HR representatives or, in rare cases, by HR consultants. And if the accompanying costs justify the changeover, it’s easy to envision a scenario in which this duty is eventually transferred from human HR representatives to AI.
According to Jesse Glass, lead AI researcher at DecideAI, an AI solutions company that specializes in large language models, “Corporations have already started using HR departments for terminations.” Glass cited “unfamiliar individuals firing workers from departments, and cutting off connections from that person to the department coldly and immediately” in an interview with MarketWatch.
About 6 out of 10 managers already use AI to decide on their direct reports, according to a recent ResumeBuilder survey. Many of these managers use AI to decide on promotions (78%), layoffs (66%), terminations (64%), and raises (78%). This may happen, for instance, by using big language models or automated tracking to keep an eye on worker performance.
This comes after a 2023 Washington Post study of 300 HR directors at US corporations found that 98% of them anticipated using analytics and software to help them decide which employees to lay off that year.
Related: Why do employers now want job candidates to complete so many requirements? AI is to blame.
Beyond employee evaluation, AI is increasingly being used in the hiring process, another aspect of the employment market. AI has been applied to anything from conducting early-stage interviews using tests and video interviews to searching resumes for keywords during candidate screening.
The World Economic Forum estimates that 88% of businesses assess candidates initially using artificial intelligence. According to WEF statistics, candidates who participated in AI-led interviews early in the hiring process did better in subsequent human interviews. The purpose of AI in hiring is to sort qualified applicants into smaller, more manageable groups.
“HR professionals can focus on strategic, high-value tasks by using technology to free them from routine tasks.” Abby Knowles of SHRM, a trade association for human resources
According to Abby Knowles of SHRM, a trade association for human resources, “technology can liberate HR professionals from basic processes, allowing them to focus on strategic, high-value functions.”
Some people think that businesses will keep testing AI for employee termination in the future, but that doesn’t mean it’s a smart idea.
“If some businesses test it out covertly, I wouldn’t be shocked. Big businesses always experiment with cost-cutting strategies,” Andrew Hiesinger, CEO of Quant Data, told MarketWatch. “Companies that rely on AI to handle exits may save time in the moment, but they’ll likely pay a much bigger price reputationally.”
