British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has criticised AI resume screening and video job interviews on platforms such as Zoom and Teams, saying the technology unfairly punishes younger workers by rewarding “formulaic” answers and working against personality and passion. Speaking on Jimmy McLoughlin’s podcast, Jimmy’s Jobs of the Future, Burnham, who has three children aged in their 20s, said he worries about how young people can shine in such situations. Despite his scepticism, Wesfarmers, Australia’s biggest retailer, has rolled out the technology at Kmart and Target, saving about $6m so far. Temple Executive Search founder Rebecca Tabakoff said much of the market did not want AI screening, noting it is problematic for complex roles and can miss red flags or exclude talented candidates due to inconsistent job terminology. Concerns about bias were also raised: Workday is fighting a US lawsuit alleging its screening software discriminated against applicants on age, race and disability, and New York University found in late 2023 that maternity-related career gaps may cause candidates to be unfairly screened out. However, Kmart chief people and corporate affairs officer Tristram Gray argued that AI catches people that humans dropped, saying the retailer could not add enough recruiters to read 600,000 applications by hand.