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AI Is Winning Over Job Interviews, While Payroll Giants Battle It Out in Court
This week in HR Tech brings two very different stories from the same industry: on one hand, candidates are increasingly embracing AI-led job interviews; on the other, two payroll giants are locked in an escalating legal battle over corporate espionage. We take a look at what both stories mean for companies investing in HR technology.
01 · AI in Recruitment
Candidates rate AI higher than human recruiters [1]
Bullhorn's latest "GRID Talent Trends 2026" report delivers numbers that would have seemed hard to imagine not long ago: as many as 92% of candidates rate voice AI-led interviews as just as good as, or better than, meetings with a human recruiter [1]. This isn't just about convenience — 93% of those who had a positive experience with AI during the hiring process said they'd want to work with the same staffing agency again [1]. The survey covered nearly 2,300 professionals from North America, the UK, Ireland, the Benelux countries, the DACH region, and Asia-Pacific, making it one of the more representative snapshots of global sentiment toward AI in recruitment [1].
For the industry, this is a sign that AI in hiring processes is no longer a technological curiosity but a genuine tool for building loyalty — both toward employers and staffing agencies. Companies that until recently treated voice AI as an experiment may now have a solid business case for rolling it out more broadly.
Where some are building trust through new technology, others are grappling with its darker side — and nowhere is that clearer than in the dispute that has been roiling the payroll market for months.
02 · Payroll and Legal Disputes
Deel loses another round in its case against Rippling [2]
A federal court in California has denied Deel's motion to exclude testimony from a key witness and refused to reconsider an earlier ruling allowing Rippling's lawsuit to proceed [2]. What's more, the court sent Deel's most serious counterclaims to arbitration, narrowing the company's room to maneuver as the legal fight continues [2]. The case centers on allegations that Deel recruited someone inside Rippling to steal trade secrets from the rival payroll platform [2]. It's yet another setback for one of the biggest players in the global payroll and HR market in a dispute that has dragged on for months [2].
The Deel-Rippling saga is a reminder that even HR Tech's biggest names aren't immune to the risks of data security and unfair competition. As companies entrust payroll platforms with ever more sensitive data — from salaries to employees' personal information — questions of trust and security matter just as much as the functionality of the system itself.
Summary
Wrap-up
This week shows the HR Tech industry in two starkly different lights: on one side, growing trust in AI-driven recruitment; on the other, the hard realities of business rivalry at the top of the payroll market. Both stories point to the same question that will keep following the industry for a long time to come: how do you build modern, effective HR solutions without losing the trust of candidates, employees, and clients?
That's exactly what we'll be discussing at HR Tech World – Targi Technologii i Rozwiązań dla Branży HR. Stay tuned for the next installments of our roundup, and come see us at the event!
Invitation
AI-led interviews that candidates rate higher than meetings with a human, and high-profile lawsuits over payroll data security, show just how fast the rules of the game are changing in HR Tech. Want to see firsthand which AI recruitment solutions actually work and how to keep your company's data secure? Visit HR Tech World and talk to the vendors shaping the industry's future.
HR Tech World 2026Footnotes
[1] GlobeNewswire / Bullhorn — https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/09/23/3367623/0/en/bullhorn-s-2026-grid-talent-trends-report-finds-92-percent-of-candidates-rate-ai-voice-interviews-as-good-as-or-better-than-human-interviews.html[2] Bloomberg — https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-26/deel-dealt-fresh-setbacks-in-rippling-case-over-alleged-spying