AI speeds up UK army recruiting amid staffing crisis
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM — The British Army is utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) software to accelerate the hiring of new soldiers, following the Ministry of Defence’s admission that it has failed to meet recruitment targets over the years.
Outsourcing firm Capita, which runs Army recruiting under a £1.4 billion contract (US$1.8 billion), has built an AI system to evaluate medical records that recruits submit with their applications. Capita stated that the software can reduce the time needed to process these records by nearly one-third.
“We are deploying these [AI] tools to streamline recruitment, get people into basic training faster, and help prevent candidates from dropping out,” a Capita spokesperson said.
Capita claims its recruiters must sift through complex medical documents up to 100 pages long, a task that used to take almost an hour per applicant. The AI software summarizes these records to streamline the overall recruiting process, which currently lasts five months from application to basic training.
The company was instructed to enroll 9,813 recruits this year but expects to reach only 70% of that figure.
The AI recruitment move comes as a recent parliamentary report, “Ready for War?” labeled the Armed Forces’ recruitment and retention as in crisis.
According to a Tidio survey, 67% of human resource (HR) professionals see value in AI recruiting technologies. However, 35% believe using technology could still risk bias and overlook unique and unconventional talents. Last year, the European Union reached a landmark deal on world’s first extensive AI rules.
