Long covid is still pretty common — and researchers don’t quite understand it + Using AI is not a sure-fire way to eliminate bias in recruitment
Still struggling with the aftereffects of your run-in with covid? You’re not alone: A Scottish study found 1 in 20 people suffer from “long covid” — with symptoms such as breathlessness, heart palpitations, chest pain and “brain fog” or reduced mental acuity —for over six months after infection. Researchers remain baffled by the variety of symptoms people report and the inability to give patients a prognosis, telling the Washington Post the long-lasting symptoms are affecting quality of life, employment, and schooling.
The results: Based on 100k participants’ experiences, the study found that 6% had not yet recovered six to 18 months after a covid infection and 42% had only partially recovered. Women, older people, and those who are economically disadvantaged are at a greater risk of long covid. Participants with preexisting conditions like respiratory disease and mental health issues were also prone to experiencing long covid. However, the study also found that vaccination affords people with some measure of protection from the likelihood of long covid and those who experience asymptomatic infections are not likely to suffer with long-term effects.
AI tools aren’t the answer for unbiased recruitment: Artificial intelligence tools have revolutionized the recruitment industry in recent years, with one Cambridge University survey of 500 human resource professionals estimating that nearly a quarter are now using AI for recruitment. These hiring tools promise to strip out variables like race and gender from the hiring process simply through automation — but many have found this claim of objectivity to be misleading. “These tools can't be trained to only identify job-related characteristics and strip out gender and race from the hiring process, because the kinds of attributes we think are essential for being a good employee are inherently bound up with gender and race,” one of the study’s authors tells BBC.
Even more problematic is the claim that AI tools can analyze videos and images of candidates to identify the “ideal employee” through tools that rate candidates for the “big five” personality traits: Agreeableness, extroversion, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism. This type of technology is “pseudoscience” and has “no scientific basis,” the researchers say. These tools were found to be influenced by small physical changes, including adjusting the brightness of the photograph, one of the researchers said, after they created their own tool to emulate how they work. A German public broadcaster also found that wearing glasses or a headscarf in a video skewed candidates’ scores. Many companies — including Amazon — have ditched AI tools altogether after finding that they ultimately do detect candidates’ gender and/or race, and often end up discriminating against certain candidates, BBC notes.
Founder of EV truckmaker Nikola convicted of fraud: Founder and former chairman of electric heavy truck maker Nikola Trevor Milton was found guilty on one count of securities fraud and two counts of wire fraud on Friday, the foreign business press reports. The prosecution had accused Milton of making false statements on the company’s work to drive up its share price, including making claims that it had developed batteries “in-house” when it was proven it had been outsourcing them, and claiming the success of trucks that were defective. Milton will be sentenced in January, and could face up to 25 years in prison. (CNBC | Reuters | Wall Street Journal)