Robotic recruiter

Tengai is the brainchild of Furhat Robotics, an artificial intelligence (AI) and social robotics company forged out of a research project that began at Stockholm's KTH Royal Institute of Technology. The creators of Tengai insist that rather than robbing an interview of genuine person-to-person interaction, the android offers interviews that can be free from unconscious biases often exhibited by human interaction.

According to research conducted last year, TNG estimates that 73% of job applicants in Sweden believe they have been discriminated against while applying for a job, based on factors including their age, gender, ethnicity, handicap, sexual preference, appearance, weight or health.

"It typically takes about seven seconds for someone to make a first impression, and about five to 15 minutes for a recruiter to make a decision," says TNG's chief innovation officer, Elin Öberg Mårtenzon. "We want to challenge that."

For now, you'll have to be a Swedish speaker to interact and interview with Tengai. Recruiters and developers are diving into an English-language version that's expected to hit companies and boardrooms by early 2020. Meet Tengai; it's AI – and your new HR.