Computer says no job
Is there nowhere left where we are safe from machines judging us? They criticise our writing with their passive-aggressive squiggly underlines, tell us when we haven鈥檛 taken enough daily exercise and now they are rating our suitability in job interviews.
This latest encroachment comes as some firms have started using . The approach is said to be more objective than boring old humans.
Advertisement
Researchers tested one AI interviewer by presenting it with actors who gave repeated performances with one variable tweaked each time, and the results were bewildering. One applicant was rated as less conscientious if she wore glasses, but more so if she wore a headscarf. People also got better scores if they sat in front of a bookcase, although at least that makes more sense. Presumably the AIs have picked up on the old mental shortcut: 鈥渞eads books, must be smart鈥�.
Now that TV interviews are usually done from people鈥檚 homes, those who care about their public image go to great lengths to ensure the camera happens to catch them in front of bookshelves carefully curated for maximum intellectual gravitas.
Feedback recommends the Twitter account (Bcredibility) for documenting this important societal trend. The account analyses people鈥檚 literary (and home decor) choices in the manner of the most egregious flights of post-modernist fancy. It is a pandemic must-read.
Small world
Speaking of strange computer stuff, 32-year-old, Liverpool-based journalist Liam Thorp was baffled when he was invited to receive a covid-19 vaccine because he had no pre-existing health conditions. On ringing up his doctor to ask why, the answer came that it was his weight problem.
This took Thorp aback. True, lockdown had left him a little 鈥渙n the chunky side鈥�, in his words, but not that much. The next day, however, the clinic rang back to confess an error. His weight was listed correctly as 111 kilograms, but his height was recorded not as 6 feet, 2 inches, but as .
That gave Thorp a body mass index (BMI), the standard way of measuring obesity, of 28,000 kg/m2, some way over the usual healthy BMI range. Thorp now understood the clinic鈥檚 concern, although he did wonder why no one had been in touch earlier to check up on Liverpool鈥檚 only clinically obese Tom Thumb. 鈥淚 knew I had put on a few lockdown pounds but I didn鈥檛 realise I鈥檇 shrunk to the size of a Borrower,鈥� he said.
When Thorp shared his story on Twitter, it emerged that he isn鈥檛 the only one. One person had been previously called in for a flu vaccine because his weight had been recorded not as 170 pounds, but 170 stone 鈥� for non-imperial measurement purists, that is 14 times higher. It seems the measurement had been taken at face value, because when the man walked into the clinic the vaccinator looked at him and said: 鈥淭here must be some mistake!鈥�
Another person鈥檚 height was recorded with the decimal point having jumped one place to the left, giving her a stature of 16.7 centimetres. She got as far as being ordered to see the practice nurse for 鈥渢he obesity talk鈥�. Even sat down face to face with her patient, the nurse didn鈥檛 catch on to the problem, and when it was pointed out, the respondent says the nurse turned 鈥渞ather grumpy鈥�.
Up the creek
Lots of us are eager to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, but some are going to extremes to jump the queue. From Florida comes word of two women of 34 and 44 years old, respectively, who turned up at a , according to ABC News. Their costumes consisted of glasses, gloves and bonnets, so perhaps they were channelling 19th-century grandmothers. An officer at the scene called the incident 鈥渞idiculous鈥�.
Even more effort was put in by the wealthy Canadian couple who flew to a remote town in the Yukon territory to get the shot. The region is being prioritised in the vaccine roll-out because it is home to many Indigenous people who are at higher risk. Rodney and Ekaterina Baker chartered a private plane to fly in, and told the clinic they were local motel workers.
Feedback鈥檚 theory is that their ruse was inspired by Netflix comedy series Schitt鈥檚 Creek. It is about a self-centred and wealthy couple who lose their fortune and are forced to work at鈥� a motel in rural Canada. Like the husband and wife in Schitt鈥檚 Creek, Rodney is an entertainment mogul and Ekaterina an actor. The name of the small town whose vaccine clinic they crashed? . The coincidences are uncanny 鈥� kind of.
The couple鈥檚 actions are all the more eyebrow-raising considering that at the pandemic鈥檚 start, Ekaterina posted on Instagram: 鈥淒uring this unique and tender time I stay home for: all the kids so they don鈥檛 have to say goodbye to their parents and grandparents too soon.鈥�
It鈥檚 a sentiment that Schitt鈥檚 Creek grande dame Moira Rose couldn鈥檛 have put better herself, but it must have slipped Ekaterina鈥檚 mind when she visited the vaccine clinic in Beaver Creek last month.
Got a story for Feedback?
Send it to feedback@newscientist.com or 快猫短视频, 25 Bedford Street, London WC2E 9ES
Consideration of items sent in the post will be delayed
You can send stories to Feedback by email at feedback@newscientist.com. Please include your home address. This week鈥檚 and past Feedbacks can be seen on our website.