A tool that rejects candidates faster than you ever could, for reasons it cannot explain. That is the core question with AI screening. - The tools worth comparing parse resumes accurately, rank against the actual job requirements, and show their work. If it cannot explain the ranking, do not trust it. - The bad ones automate bias at scale, which is worse than nothing. - Compliance matters here more than most professions. Know what the tool does with candidate data and push the vendor until the answer is concrete. - Interview scheduling AI is the unglamorous hero: coordinating five calendars eats hours. - Keep humans reviewing AI-flagged candidates weekly. Judgment stays in the loop. I compare AI tools for HR and recruiting with pricing, and PrivateLLM deploy sets up a private LLM on AWS for $50 plus usage for teams handling sensitive candidate data in-house.