Chipotle has a new addition to its staff: Ava Cadoan AI recruiter that reduces the time it takes to hire a new restaurant employee by 75%.
Chipotle announced the AI system on Tuesday, stating that Ava will talk to potential hires, get needed information, schedule interviews and even send out offer letters. Managers at 3,500 Chipotle restaurants worldwide will use the AI technology, which will be rolled out in phases by the end of the month.
Chipotle Chief Human Resources Officer Ilene Eskenazi said in a press release that the big picture goal is to have 7,000 restaurants in North America using the technology.
Related: Wells Fargo analysts tested 75 bowls at Chipotle — and the portion sizes were wildly inconsistent
AI “works like we've hired additional administrative support for all of our restaurants,” Eskenazi said.
Chipotle is using AI technology already in use at some of the world's largest restaurants, including McDonald's AND Wendy's. Giants in other industries, such as Pfizer, FedEx and Disney, are also using the same AI recruiting platform. Pfizerfor example, it said it reduced the time it takes to schedule an interview with a candidate from seven days to less than five minutes.
However, recruiting AI carries its own set of challenges, such as the possibility of automating biases. If the AI system was trained on a biased data setmay inadvertently reinforce that bias.
It also risks alienating candidates who can be penalized if they use AI themselves to prepare materials. Human candidates can answer better for recruiters people who give clear social requirements, say in an initial recruitment call.
For Chipotle, Ava Cado has the clear benefit of allowing managers to spend more time supporting human team members and less on hiring.
“We're excited about the early improvements we're seeing,” Eskenazi said.