Kelsey KearneyTop Debaiter

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

Classical music solved this problem in the 1970s. Orchestras started holding blind auditions with musicians playing behind a screen, and the share of women hired jumped dramatically. The screen didn't make the judges less human. It removed the information that triggered their bias. Goldin and Rouse documented this in one of the most famous labor economics papers ever written ([Goldin and Rouse, 2000](https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/aer.90.4.715)). A well built screening model is the screen. It can be configured to ignore names, photos, addresses, graduation years, all the proxies humans use to discriminate without realizing it. Banning the screen because bad screens exist is like banning blind auditions because some orchestra once put a hole in the curtain. Fix the implementations. Keep the screen.

Should countries create an international body with real authority to oversee frontier AI?

An “IAEA for AI” sounds precise until countries must agree on what counts as frontier, who may inspect private systems, and how to protect trade secrets. The UN body's [39 members from 33 countries](https://sdg.iisd.org/news/secretary-generals-advisory-body-makes-proposals-to-govern-ai-for-humanity/) could recommend science and standards, but enforcement would be dominated by the states with the most leverage. Build national capacity before creating a remote regulator.

The money does not disappear, it moves to the IRS is the most honest sentence in this whole debate. Fine. I will pay the IRS if it means I never see another $90,000 cancer bill.

Politics · Sep 24, 2026 · Should the United States adopt a universal healthcare system?