Robots are taking over .... Our job Applications!

In an era when headlines are dominated by fears of artificial intelligence replacing human labor, a new twist has emerged: humans are being out-maneuvered by machines, not on the production floor, but in the very process of applying for jobs at cutting-edge robotics firms.

The robot revolution may have already begun… in your résumé inbox.

170,000 Applications, 425 Hires — and Increasing Chaos

Silicon Valley humanoid robotics startup Figure AI recently dropped a staggering statistic: between 2022 and 2025, around 176,000 people applied for jobs at the company. Yet Figure AI hired only about 425 people — a hiring rate of roughly 0.24 %, which is lower than the acceptance rate at some Ivy League universities.

Figure AI’s CEO, Brett Adcock, publicly lamented that the majority of these applications were “slop” — a chaotic mixture of generic résumés, AI-generated cover letters, and what he described as mostly unqualified submissions. The company’s applicant tracking systems (ATS) still require manual review of each résumé, which has become an almost impossible bottleneck given the volume.

It begs a strange question:
Are robots not just automating production — but also disrupting how we apply for work?

When AI Tools Backfire on Job Seekers

This is not just a problem for employers. Recruiters in other sectors have noticed bizarre patterns too: dozens of applicants using AI tools to craft identical-sounding resumes and cover letters, making it harder — not easier — to distinguish qualified candidates. Some job seekers even used AI to cheat on live coding tests.

So while AI assistance can theoretically give applicants an edge, it can also flood hiring pipelines with homogenized, low-quality submissions — ironically accelerating the very “résumé sludge” Figure AI’s CEO complained about.

Talent Wars: More Robots, Fewer Humans Hired?

The underlying context here is the intense talent competition in robotics and AI. Companies across the space are scrambling for top engineers, researchers, and developers, often offering dizzying compensation packages and perks. Even industry giants aren’t immune:

• OpenAI recently eliminated vesting cliffs on employee equity to attract and retain talent amid fierce competition with Meta, Google DeepMind, and others.

• Microsoft AI’s leader Mustafa Suleyman has publicly said the company won’t simply outbid competitors with astronomical wills — but selective hiring is still central to its strategy.

Even smaller robotics firms — from Neura Robotics in Germany to boost startups like Boost Robotics working on mobile manipulators — are hiring aggressively as AI-driven automation expands across sectors.

Clearly, many companies want robot-makers, yet few applicants are making the cut.

What This Means for the Job Market at Large

This “résumé glut” isn’t just a quirky fact about one company — it reflects a broader workforce shift driven by AI and automation:

• McKinsey and other analysts estimate that AI could theoretically automate activities accounting for more than half of current U.S. work hours, reshaping jobs rather than simply eliminating them.

• Other surveys report (Business News Daily) that major companies across industries — from logistics to finance — now use AI in critical business functions, making digital literacy nearly as essential as domain expertise.

Meanwhile, a growing number of workers already fear that AI will change or replace their roles altogether. Some estimates suggest up to 50 % of jobs globally could be automated by the mid-21st century, especially in repetitive or clerical tasks.

So here’s the odd part: even as robots take over high-skill technical tasks, humans are racing each other — and AI itself — just to get into the door of the companies building these machines.

A Future Where Robots Decide Who Gets Hired?

The notion that robots could eventually screen job applications makes for great science fiction — but it may not be far from reality. With AI tools already capable of summarizing and categorizing data faster than most humans, recruiters and HR departments are increasingly turning to machine learning to sift through applicant pools.

That means human intuition might soon be replaced by algorithmic judgment, even in fields where human creativity and judgment are supposed to matter most.

It’s a weird twist:
Robots may not just take jobs — they may soon decide which humans are fit to work for them.

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