Blind scouting: using artificial intelligence to alleviate bias in selection

Purpose Talent scouting is recognized as a vital activity for professional sports organizations to establish a competitive advantage on the field. It remains, however, an imperfect science marred with bias and stereotypes. Technology – such as data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) – is a promising avenue to deal with these issues. Yet, much like in the broader HRM literature, little is known about its ability to effectively alleviate bias and on how to successfully make it co-exist with human recruiters. Design/methodology/approach In collaboration with a professional North American soccer (football) team, this experimental study investigates the impact of using AI-anonymized game footage on scouts’ assessments. In addition to quantitative ratings, it uses a “think-aloud” or verbal cognition methodology to capture changes in the scouts’ assessments. Findings The results demonstrate how a “blind scouting” approach stands to alleviate bias and leads to more robust scouting assessments. Namely, the findings indicate that using de-identified footage through AI increases the scouts’ focus on tactical abilities and decreases observations on potentially problematic physiological considerations. Originality/value This study provides valuable insights on scouts’ cognition and moves past the prevailing AI vs Human dichotomy by demonstrating how the technology can improve processes without removing the need for experts. It also speaks to AI’s benefits beyond cost or time savings and suggests other potential HRM-related applications for AI.