According to Futurism, University of Pennsylvania researchers published a study claiming AI can detect whether companies should hire people just by scanning their faces. The team used AI trained on previous facial personality detection research to analyze headshots of 96,000 MBA graduates from LinkedIn, extracting five personality traits including openness, conscientiousness, and extraversion. They then compared these AI-generated personality assessments against the LinkedIn members’ actual career outcomes and found correlations between facial characteristics and labor market success. The researchers specifically identified extraversion as the “strongest positive predictor” of compensation, while openness was linked to lower pay. The study builds on ethically questionable scholarship suggesting personality can be determined from facial features alone, and comes as facial recognition technology is already being deployed in concerning real-world applications.
Welcome to dystopian hiring
This is basically phrenology with an AI makeover. The idea that your face determines your career success isn’t just scientifically dubious – it’s ethically terrifying. And yet here we are in 2025, with serious academic institutions publishing research that could literally reshape how millions of people get jobs, loans, and opportunities.
Think about the implications here. Companies already have enough biases in their hiring processes without adding “facial scanning algorithms” to the mix. What happens when an AI decides someone doesn’t look “trustworthy” enough for that promotion? Or “too open” for that leadership position? The researchers themselves acknowledge this could lead people to modify their appearance through software or even cosmetic procedures. That’s not progress – that’s a Black Mirror episode.
The slippery slope is already here
Here’s the thing: this isn’t theoretical anymore. The study mentions that some US states are using AI for driver’s license verification with “disastrous results for those living with facial differences.” Meanwhile, the UK’s Met Police brags about arrests using facial recognition with a “only” 0.5% false-positive rate. But when you’re dealing with millions of people, that tiny percentage represents thousands of innocent people facing consequences.
The research builds on previous work like studies claiming AI can detect criminality from faces – which should make anyone with basic historical knowledge extremely uncomfortable. We’ve been down this road before with pseudoscientific attempts to link physical appearance to character, and it never ends well.
Where this could actually go
So what happens if companies actually adopt this? Well, we’d see a massive market for “AI-friendly” headshots and appearance modification services. LinkedIn profiles would become even more curated and artificial than they already are. And the competitive landscape would shift toward companies willing to embrace these dystopian hiring practices.
The winners would be the AI vendors selling these systems and the consulting firms helping companies implement them. The losers? Basically everyone else. Job candidates would face yet another opaque barrier to employment. Companies using these systems would likely face discrimination lawsuits. And society would move further toward judging people based on how they look rather than what they can actually do.
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The ethical nightmare continues
Look, the fundamental problem here is that correlation doesn’t equal causation. Maybe extroverted people tend to have certain facial expressions because they’re extroverted – not that their facial structure makes them extroverted. The AI is probably picking up on cultural and social cues, not some inherent biological destiny written on our faces.
And let’s be real – if this technology becomes widespread, it will absolutely discriminate against protected characteristics despite claims otherwise. Previous research has shown how biased these systems can be. Do we really want to build hiring systems that might systematically disadvantage people based on race, gender, or disability?
The researchers published their findings in this paper, essentially putting this dangerous idea out into the world. Now we just have to hope responsible companies recognize this for what it is: a high-tech version of judging a book by its cover that we should have left in the 19th century.
