Eightfold AI hit with lawsuit over secret job applicant scoring
Eightfold AI, the hiring tech used by big names like Microsoft and PayPal, is being sued for allegedly breaking the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
The lawsuit claims Eightfold built hidden "talent profiles" on job seekers—scoring things like personality traits and education rankings—without telling candidates or giving them a chance to challenge the results.
Why this matters for job seekers
The platform pulls data from over a billion profiles to rate applicants from one to five.
Plaintiffs Erin Kistler and Sruti Bhaumik, both experienced in tech, say this system quietly filtered out candidates before any human even saw their applications.
Kistler says that, despite her strong background, just 0.3% of the thousands of jobs she applied to in recent applications advanced to a follow-up or interview, and that several of her applications were routed through Eightfold.
If the court sides with them, companies may have to be upfront about using this kind of AI—and give people a way to dispute how they're scored.