Two AI mirrors now sit between us and our careers. One is the hiring bot that rejects qualified people without explanation. The other is the chatbot that tells us what our colleagues have said for years, and this time we believe it. For anyone living with impostor syndrome, both mirrors distort. Using Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass as a guide, this session looks at the research on automated screening, algorithm appreciation, and AI flattery. It ends with a practical toolkit: use AI to gather evidence of your work, and trust your community to confirm it.
Talking points
- Hook: a personal story. Recently I was sitting on the bench for a while as despite all my efforts I couldn’t really get through the AI validation wall. I will be sharing some lessons I learned.
- Impostor syndrome is common and unrelated to ability. We are lucky to have plenty of talented professionals within Drupal community and yet, majority of them struggle with giving themselves proper credit for the amazing work they are doing. Impostor feelings don't track actual performance.
- Mirror one: the AI wall. Harvard Business School and Accenture estimate 27 million "hidden workers" in the US. 88% of employers agree that qualified candidates are screened out. Both sides lose.
- The wall isn't neutral. LLM screeners favored white-associated names 85% of the time and female-associated names 11% of the time. They also prefer AI-written CVs over human-written ones.
- Mirror two: the machine that believes in us. People weigh advice more heavily when they think it comes from an algorithm. That may be why AI praise lands when a colleague's compliment doesn't.
- The twist: both mirrors distort. AI affirms users 49% more than humans do, and people can't tell when it's happening. A warm answer isn't proof of an accurate one.
- The toolkit. Use AI to organise evidence, not to deliver a verdict. Check it with people who know your work, and keep records that don't depend on anyone's mood, like contribution credits.
- Call to action. For hiring managers: audit your screeners and filter affirmatively. For everyone else: be someone else's trusted mirror. Close on the question of who is dreaming whom, and who gets to decide you're real.