Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission will launch an initiative aimed at rooting out bias created by artificial intelligence and other technologies used in hiring, EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows announced at an Oct. 28 event.
- The agency plans to reach out to "key stakeholders" to learn about algorithmic tools and their effect on employment. It will identify a number of best practices and publish technical assistance covering "algorithmic fairness and the use of AI in employment decisions."
- "Bias in employment arising from the use of algorithms and AI falls squarely within the Commission's priority to address systemic discrimination," Burrows said. "While the technology may be evolving, anti-discrimination laws still apply."
Dive Insight:
EEOC's commitment is only the most recent action in a series of steps the agency has taken to enforce anti-discrimination laws in the evolving arena of employment technology.
The agency began its foray against tech-borne bias no later than 2016, when it held a public meeting to examine the implications of big data on the workplace.
More recently, EEOC Commissioner Keith Sonderling warned employers attending an April 2021 American Bar Association conference that hiring tech tools create discrimination risks. He urged attendees to evaluate algorithms "early and often for biased outcomes and reengineer as appropriate."
Sonderling hinted at future activity from the agency on the matter. He declared that EEOC "must be a leader in this area" and encouraged attendees to reach out if they thought the agency "should provide guidance on specific issues relating to bias in technology."
A few months later, Sonderling detailed how microtargeting employment ads can run afoul of anti-discrimination laws in an HR Dive opinion piece. The ads allow advertisers to select specific audiences, and that creates "significant implications under federal civil rights law, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, pregnancy, or genetic information," Sonderling wrote.
The EEOC also said it offered its systemic investigators an "extensive training" this year. The course covered the use of AI in employment practices, according to the agency.
