Andrea Hsu , NPR; For those with criminal records, AI is breaking down barriers to employment
"Back in 2018, Sudbury began running expungement clinics in Salt Lake County. Every time, hundreds of people would show up, some with their children in tow, others driving hours to get there. Every time, by 9 p.m., Sudbury was turning people away, telling them the lawyers had to go home.
The process was laborious. It would take lawyers up to an hour just to piece together what was on someone's record to figure out if they were eligible for expungement under state law.
Sudbury recalls one man who arrived with a rolling suitcase filled with all kinds of documents.
"The amount of paper was so voluminous that he couldn't carry it all. And I'm like, 'This is nuts because all of this could live in a digital format,'" she says.
That led to an idea. What if she could access all of the information the background check companies use?
"Could I build an app? Could I use technology to reduce my time?" she remembers thinking. "I just believed it was possible."
Speeding up record clearance to help secure jobs
Now, amid a barrage of news about AI-related layoffs at tech companies like Uber and Meta and widespread fear that AI will decimate all kinds of entry-level jobs, from paralegals to junior accountants to customer support, Sudbury is leaning heavily into AI to help people get jobs — by speeding up the record clearance process for those who are eligible."
