​Furhat Robotics and TNG Build World's First Unbiased Interview Robot

Social Robotics startup Furhat Robotics and TNG, specialists in unbiased recruitment, are announcing a global partnership in which they will jointly develop the world's first unbiased recruiter and interview robot. The vision behind the robot is to better analyze, understand and perform competency-based interviews and assessments eliminating unconscious bias - a very real issue in the recruitment world today.

Following on from the recent launch of Furhat’s new social robotics platform, this partnership is designed to create a more objective and unbiased recruitment process, to contribute to research on social robots and to commercialize the robot in Sweden and internationally.

Cognitive bias is a well known issue in the recruitment process and “Tengai”, as the robot will be called, will be used to assist recruiters in the early stages of recruitment, where questions are primarily skill and competency based. The product merry together Furhat's state of the art technical know how about social robotics, with TNG:s unbiased and reversed recruitment methodology that the company have been developing for the past 15 years. 

Research by TNG in 2018 shows that almost 73% of people believe they have been discriminated against while applying for a job based on their age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual preferences, appearance, weight or health.

Engaging user interface

“At Furhat, we believe that social robots are the most natural, accessible and engaging user interface for humans. Part of bringing this vision to life is by working with world leading companies such as TNG. We’ve been very inspired by their vision of eradicating bias from the recruitment process, potentially giving people a better chance to have the right career, and for employers to find the right candidates.

This project marks one of the earliest and most significant partnerships to develop commercial applications for Furhat, one that is extremely well suited to the unique impact that social robots can have on human interaction.” Said Samer Al Moubayed, CEO at Furhat Robotics.

Less bias, more people opportunities and diversity

Said Åsa Edman Källströmer, CEO TNG:
“The collaboration with Furhat Robotics will take unbiased recruitment to the next level. We have worked with unbiased recruitment for years, and have explored various AI-platforms and robotics solutions. We have found Furhat’s product to be the best on the market. With Furhat, we can create an unbiased competence based selection process and a new and completely unique candidate experience that will engage and enthuse job seekers. The combination will help us get even better at finding the best candidates for our customers, increase the diversity in their workplace and help us in our journey and vision to create a more sustainable labour market.”

The two companies will be documenting the process of bringing Tengai to life on TNG’s blog, providing a transparent and fascinating insight into the creation of the world’s first unbiased recruiter robot: https://www.tng.se/blogg/tengai-unbiased

For more information:

TNG: Charlotte Ulvros, Director of Marketing and Digital TNG, +46 709 82 84 75 orcharlotte.ulvros@tng.se.

Furhat Robotics: Varun Atrey, Marketing Manager Furhat Robotics, +46 767 034 839 or varun@furhatrobotics.com.