Red Sox address ‘unsubstantiated report’ about using AI for baseball ops interviews

SEATTLE — The Red Sox on Wednesday released a statement to address an “unsubstantiated report” that the organization uses AI to interview candidates for their baseball operations openings.

Joon Lee made the claim on NBC Sports Boston’s Arbella Early Edition on Tuesday, saying, “The Red Sox were trying to recruit a new person for their baseball operations department, and during this interview process, the entire interview was conducted with an AI bot, where you would record the answers to the questions and then the Red Sox would then evaluate them. And this wasn’t just one round. It wasn’t just two rounds. It was five rounds of interviews where this person did not talk to another person in the Red Sox organization.”

The Red Sox released the following statement:

“We wanted to reach out to you because we are seeing unsubstantiated reports about the Red Sox using AI bots to hire candidates. ... Since 2012, the club has used a tool called HireVue to screen applicants for all roles across the organization. The Red Sox are one of several MLB clubs to use this tool, which asks candidates to answer a few questions in a recorded video for the hiring manager to get a sense of the person beyond their resume. This is one of several steps in the hiring process and is just one factor that helps determine which candidates should advance to an in-person interview. On average, the club receives over 500 applicants per position, and for some roles, as many as 3,000. This tool is in no way a replacement for in-person interviews, simply one of many steps that helps the club screen the many candidates who apply for each job posting.

“We wanted to ensure all of you had this information directly from us and would appreciate your partnership in helping clear up these unsupported claims.”