Artificial intelligence (AI) is making inroads into all avenues of life. Some employers have been quick to take advantage of the ever-growing number of time-saving measures it can perform. Others may not even realize they are using it when it’s part of a program they use for a particular task.
One area where many employers feel AI can be advantageous is in hiring new employees. This has traditionally been an area where employers could make costly mistakes when the personal biases of those conducting recruitment seeped into the process and resulted in claims of discrimination from applicants.
AI can certainly help employers sift through application forms faster. However, people are now realizing that even AI can end up discriminating against groups of people. After all, the results of an AI system will depend on the information fed to it. If you feed it data from a company where managers have traditionally all been white males in their 50s, the AI could propagate that existing bias unless someone actively gives it other information to show it that other groups of workers can also make great managers.
The California Civil Rights Council recently approved regulations that employers and those who sell AI systems should heed to try to prevent discrimination by AI when hiring. If the Office of Administrative Law approves it, these regulations could soon become law.
Caution is still wise
Discriminating against employees on the basis of their protected characteristics is already illegal and has been so for a long time. While the proposed new regulations would be welcome, they alone won’t solve the problem of discrimination in workplaces. Affected employees may want to explore their legal options.