US Warns AI Hiring May Violate Anti-Discrimination Laws

By admin on Saturday, May 14, 2022

More and more companies are employing Artificial Intelligence -powered recruitment and productivity tools , which can exclude people with disabilities.

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US agencies are alerting companies to possible bias in AI -powered recruiting tools , which can unfairly discriminate against people with disabilities and could violate civil rights laws .

The US Department of Justice and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have jointly issued guidance for employers to be careful before using popular algorithmic tools intended to simplify the job of screening employees and job prospects.

“We are sounding an alarm regarding the dangers related to blind reliance on AI and other technologies that we see increasingly used by employers ,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the department’s Civil Rights Division said, according to AP . “The use of AI is compounding long-standing discrimination faced by job seekers with disabilities.”

The Artificial Intelligence Bias

Examples of AI -powered tools related to hiring include resume scanners, employee monitoring software that ranks workers based on keystrokes, game-like online tests to assess job skills, and video interview software that measures a person’s speech patterns or facial expressions.

This technology could potentially rule out people with speech impediments, severe arthritis that slows writing, or a variety of other physical or mental impairments, officials said.

California recently enacted a productivity quota law that bans algorithms that violate health, labor, and safety regulations, or lead to the firing of people who can’t meet quotas.

Meanwhile, New York requires AI hiring systems to pass annual audits for discrimination. Companies that fail to heed the new warnings could face serious legal reprisals on multiple levels.