The head of the U.S. agency charged with enforcing civil rights in the workplace says artificial intelligence-driven “bossware” tools that closely track the whereabouts, keystrokes and productivity of workers can also run afoul of discrimination laws.
Charlotte Burrows, chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, told The Associated Press that the agency is trying to educate employers and technology providers about their use of these surveillance tools as well as AI tools that streamline the work of evaluating job prospects.
And if they aren’t careful with say, draconian schedule-monitoring algorithms that penalize breaks for pregnant women or Muslims taking time to pray, or allowing faulty software to screen out graduates of women’s or historically Black colleges – they can’t blame AI when the EEOC comes calling.
“I’m not shy about using our enforcement authority when it’s necessary,” Burrows said. “We want to work with employers, but there’s certainly no exemption to the civil rights laws because you engage in discrimination some high-tech way.”
The federal agency put out its latest set of guidance Thursday on the use of automated systems in employment decisions such as who to hire or promote. It explains how to interpret a key provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 known as Title VII that bars job discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion or sex, which includes bias against gay, lesbian and transgender workers.
Burrows said one...
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