Should companies be banned from using AI to screen job applications?

The ban side has to sit with an uncomfortable result out of France. France ran a large scale experiment with anonymous resumes, removing names and photos to prevent discrimination. The result, published in the American Economic Journal, was that anonymization actually hurt minority candidates, because it also removed the positive signals recruiters relied on (Behaghel, Crepon, and Le Barbanchon, 2015). Interventions that sound pro fairness can backfire when they remove information asymmetrically. A blunt ban on screening AI risks the same dynamic: you remove the tool that can be tuned, tested, and constrained, and you hand decisions back to informal human networks, referrals, and pedigree, which are the least fair hiring mechanisms ever invented. Good intentions aren't a substitute for evidence.