A stakeholder panel that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) hosted in September was dominated by discussions related to smart technology, such as machine-learning recruitment systems used for hiring purposes.

The meeting was intended for employers, attorneys and civil rights advocates to discuss topics for the agency to consider when drafting its new strategic enforcement plan (SEP).

The witnesses talked about pregnancy accommodations, sex-based caregiver discrimination and pay equity as issues to consider for the next SEP, which provides organizations with a roadmap of areas where they can expect increased scrutiny moving forward.

But discussion of AI bias made up the bulk of the five-hour listening session.

"[We] urge the next SEPs to include a focus on the ways in which relying on algorithmic technology and artificial intelligence in hiring can replicate and systematize harmful and [stereotypical] decision-making while also making such discrimination more difficult to challenge because of the black-box nature of those decision-making processes," said Emily Martin, vice president for education and workplace justice at the National Women's Law Center.

Judy Conti, director for government affairs at the National Employment Law Project, said that automation tools are becoming increasingly common but are often programmed and trained based on past hiring practices that can replicate patterns of illegal bias.

"They search for indicators that supposedly...

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