Not even that surprising tbh. We handed pattern-matching systems a hiring job and called it efficiency. If the model likes its own writing more than your actual experience, the process is broken.
If you wrote your own resume, an AI is probably rejecting it before a human ever sees it.
Researchers exposed a hidden bias in how AI screens job applications. It has nothing to do with your skills, your experience, or your education
It's called "self-preference bias."
A team from the University of Maryland, the National University of Singapore, and Ohio State tested what happens when you send the exact same resume to an AI screener twice.
Same qualifications. same experience. one written by a human. one rewritten by ChatGPT.
The AI picked the ChatGPT version 97.6% of the time.
Then they tested seven of the most popular AI models. Every single one preferred resumes written by itself.
It gets worse.
Researchers simulated real-world hiring pipelines across 24 different occupations.
If a candidate happened to use the exact same AI model to write their resume that the employer used to screen it, their chances of getting shortlisted skyrocketed by up to 60%.
The AI is playing favorites.
It recognizes its own writing style, its own vocabulary, and its own structure. And it quietly pushes those resumes to the top of the pile.
Employers think they are using AI to find the most qualified candidates.
Applicants think they are using AI to beat the screening software.
But the reality is completely different.