By Pat Murphy, BridgeTower Media Newswires
BOSTON — As employers increasingly use automated systems to make decisions regarding hiring, firing, promotions and pay, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is raising the red flag on the risks of disability, race, gender and age discrimination posed by reliance on artificial intelligence technology in managing the workplace.
On Jan. 31, the EEOC held a public hearing in Washington titled “Navigating Employment Discrimination in AI and Automated Systems: A New Civil Rights Frontier.”
“The goals of this hearing were to both educate a broader audience about the civil rights implications of the use of these technologies and to identify next steps that the commission can take to prevent and eliminate unlawful bias in employers’ use of these automated technologies,” EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows said in a statement. “We will continue to educate employers, workers and other stakeholders on the potential for unlawful bias so that these systems do not become high-tech pathways to discrimination.”
One employment attorney who shares those concerns is Monica R. Shah of Boston.
“One of my concerns is that companies may use AI as a shield or as a way to [deflect] responsibility for decision-making,” said Shah, who represents employees in discrimination cases. “Ultimately, the decision to take an adverse action against an employee is the responsibility of the company itself.”
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