Unilever saves on recruiters by using AI to assess job interviews

System analyses body language and word choice, but polling suggests public are opposed to such use of automation

Unilever has claimed it is saving hundreds of thousands of pounds a year by replacing human recruiters with an artificial intelligence system, amid warnings of a populist backlash against the spread of machine learning.

The multinational told the Guardian it had saved 100,000 hours of human recruitment time in the last year by deploying software to analyse video interviews.