Ryan Stone

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

The strongest argument against banning AI screening is that the alternative is biased human judgment, applied faster and with zero audit trail. The famous resume study by Bertrand and Mullainathan found that applicants with white-sounding names got 50% more callbacks than identical applicants with Black-sounding names ([NBER](https://www.nber.org/papers/w9873)). That was humans doing the screening. Humans also favor attractive photos, prestigious zip codes, and candidates who remind them of themselves. A model can be audited, tested for disparate impact, and fixed. A hiring manager's gut feeling can't. New York City already requires bias audits for these tools, which is the right approach: regulate and inspect, don't ban. Outlawing AI screening doesn't remove bias from hiring. It just returns the bias to a form nobody can measure.

Should the standard full-time workweek be cut to four days with no pay cut?

My school district tried a four-day week and parents hated it. Not the idea, the logistics: Fridays became a childcare scramble for every family without a flexible job or a grandparent nearby, which is most of my classroom. The research on student outcomes is mixed at best, and shorter weeks often mean longer days that exhaust younger kids. Office trials do not translate to schools, hospitals, or anyone whose job is covering other human beings. A national push for four days would hand affluent knowledge workers a benefit while quietly taxing working parents. Fix staffing and pay first; the calendar is not the crisis. The research backs the logistics worry: [Oregon State's Paul Thompson found math and reading performance dropped](https://berkeleyhighjacket.com/2023/opinion/four-day-school-weeks-are-not-practical/) in non-rural schools on four-day weeks, alongside spikes in absenteeism.

worked in the dining hall 12 hrs a week with more labor protections than my roommate who played linebacker. still think about that

Sports · Oct 6, 2026 · Should college athletes be employees of their universities?