Lawsuit Claims Eightfold AI Unlawfully Collects Job Applicants’ Data, Ranks Their Candidacy in Employer Reports

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A proposed class action lawsuit claims Eightfold AI has unlawfully used its proprietary technology to collect job applicants’ personal information and craft candidacy profiles and rankings for employers, all without individuals’ knowledge or consent.

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The 35-page lawsuit contends that, through its proprietary large language model (LLM), Eightfold AI collects information on job applicants based on “billions of data points” across the internet in order to create detailed candidacy reports for employers. According to the complaint, the software company’s AI technology gleans data from sources that go far beyond the information submitted on the job application itself, such as social media, location details, internet activity, device information and browser cookies.

The case alleges that based on this information, the AI technology then ranks the job applicant on a scale of 0 to 5, reflecting how apt the candidate may be for the position and drawing on factors like work history, projected career trajectory, personal characteristics and more.

Related Reading: AI Job Screening, Interview & Hiring Lawsuits | Privacy, Bias Concerns

This subjective determination is at no point made visible to the candidate, nor do they have the opportunity to opt out of the data collection process without compromising the application itself, the case claims. The lawsuit alleges that Eightfold’s practices have violated consumer protection statutes—namely, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the California Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act (ICRAA)—designed to protect individuals from inaccurate or incomplete consumer reports being used in employment decisions.

Per the filing, the laws refer not only to the provision and use of credit reports, which may detail an individual’s debt history, but also those that contain data about a “person’s habits, morals, and life experiences.”

“These are the kinds of reports that can have devastating consequences for people’s jobs,” the suit says.

Related Reading: $2.4M Capital One Settlement Resolves Class Action Lawsuit Over Alleged Fair Credit Reporting Act Violations

Though the FCRA and ICRAA were enacted prior to the emergence of artificial intelligence, both pieces of legislation were formulated to give consumers control over the information that determines their access to employment and credit-building opportunities, the case states.

The FCRA, in particular, was amended by Congress in 1996 to recognize the importance of job applicants’ privacy rights, specifically in light of the rapid expansion of the internet, the suit adds.

“ … [E]mployers violate the FCRA when they use consumer reports to make adverse employment decisions without first providing the applicant and/or employee who is the subject of the report with sufficient and timely notification of its intent to take an adverse action and a copy of the report,” the complaint relays.

The plaintiffs, two California residents, claim that Eightfold AI has inhibited them from progressing further in the job application process and receiving employment opportunities at major companies that utilize its technology, including Microsoft and PayPal, despite their qualifications and respective industry experience.

Per the lawsuit, both plaintiffs completed job applications on websites whose URLs included “Eightfold.AI.” Neither plaintiff was asked to interview or proceed further in their respective job application processes, the suit says.

The case asserts that the plaintiffs were not provided with a copy of their report information and a description of their rights, including their right to dispute or correct the data, in violation of the FCRA and ICRAA.

The Eightfold AI class action lawsuit seeks to represent all United States residents who, during the applicable statute of limitations period, applied to jobs in the U.S. and were subject to the company’s evaluation tools as part of their application for employment.

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