TL;DR

YouGov polling puts public opposition to AI-assisted shortlisting at 64%, with 26% finding it acceptable. The class split is the detail employers should notice: 30% of ABC1 respondents are comfortable with it, against 20% of C2DE respondents. The people most likely to be filtered out are the least willing to accept the filter.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has picked up the same thread, saying post-pandemic recruitment does not feel to him as though it is becoming fairer, and naming AI CV-sifting specifically.

The polling covers interview format too, and the picture is consistent. Given a choice tomorrow, 70% would want to meet in person, 16% would opt for video and 6% for telephone. Younger respondents are more relaxed — remote is preferred by 22-24% of those under 50, falling to 11% of 55-to-64s and 4% of the over-65s. Burnham’s objection is about visibility rather than convenience: he questions how a young person is supposed to make an impression through a Teams window, while acknowledging why organisations like the format.

For UK employers this is a reputational calculation that has not yet been priced in. Automated sifting is now routine in volume recruitment, and it is being run against a candidate population that mostly regards it as illegitimate. Nothing in the polling suggests the tools are inaccurate — the objection is to being assessed by software at all, which is not a problem better software solves.

It also lands against a labour market already under strain. Youth unemployment sits above 16%, and Resultsense reported yesterday on evidence that AI is splitting the UK jobs market by experience level, with entry-level roles absorbing the disruption. Candidates encountering AI at the application stage are frequently the same people whose prospects AI is reshaping further down the line.

The regulatory position remains unsettled. Employment law does not directly address algorithmic shortlisting, and the government has not indicated whether the AI bill will cover it. A prime minister voicing personal reservations is not policy, but it is the sort of remark that tends to precede consultation.

Looking Forward

Employers using AI in hiring should expect disclosure to become an expectation rather than a choice, and should be able to explain what the system weighs. With two-thirds of the public against the practice and the Prime Minister publicly uneasy, the question is when scrutiny arrives, not whether.