I am an expert in helping professionals find new roles, but I wasn’t expecting this. If you’re looking to hire remote employees, AI just made it way more complicated with some serious potential risks. 

In this LInkedIn article, “AI deepfakes flood job market,” I was stunned to read it is projected that 1 in 4 job applicants will be fake by 2028, according to Gartner. From the article:

Hiring managers face an unsettling new question: Is the remote applicant on a video interview actually an AI deepfake? Increasingly, the answer is “yes” as candidates tap generative AI tools to alter their resumes, voices and even video avatars, CNBC reports. While some job seekers simply want to land a position for which they’re not legally qualified, others are looking to install malware or expose security weaknesses.

Yikes! 

If I hadn’t seen demonstrations of this technology, I might think this was just click bait. I attended a social media summit last year that walked us through tools you could use to clone your voice and your image. This software could manipulate your image so it was virtually indistinguishable from you on camera. This was touted as an efficient way to do compelling videos to boost your business. All you would need to do was create your clone, write your script, and the AI version of you would present your content. It would be a huge time saver. 

It was fascinating to watch, and also terrifying. What could possibly go wrong with this except everything?

I immediately called my parents and we set up a code word so they would know it was the real me in case someone tried some phishing scam on them, cloning my voice from my online content. My good friend’s mom had already been the victim of one of these where someone called saying her son was in the hospital and she needed to send money. She wasn’t good enough with technology to comply with their request so they didn’t get anything, thank goodness. 

But what do you do if you’re trying to hire a remote employee? I hardly know what to tell a small business owner. My jaw dropped when I read in this CNBC post:

“Gen AI has blurred the line between what it is to be human and what it means to be machine,” Balasubramaniyan said. “What we’re seeing is that individuals are using these fake identities and fake faces and fake voices to secure employment, even sometimes going so far as doing a face swap with another individual who shows up for the job.”
– Pindrop CEO and co-founder Vijay Balasubramaniyan

As a small business owner, you may need to go old school with your hiring practices. You may need to reach out to your network personally and on LinkedIn to find individuals who are vetted by people you know. 

If you haven’t previously been doing background checks, you might want to start doing them for new hires. 

If someone seems too good to be true, that might be a red flag or an indicator to do a little digging. 

And if something feels off about a candidate, you should probably trust your gut and not move them forward.  

Stay safe out there, folks. It’s a crazy world. 

Photo by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash