Artificial intelligence has spread into the employment sector. It is not uncommon to see employers using tools crafted by artificial intelligence to aid their hiring decisions.
This type of artificial intelligence is classified as Automated Employment Decision Tools, also referred to as AEDTs.
AEDTs are driven by an AI robot that aligns the job description with matching keywords in an applicant’s resume. The AEDTs are not only limited to keywords. Some tools are also able to factor in emotional response.
These tools were introduced as an efficient and objective way to speed up an employer’s hiring process. The initial assumption was that machines would not adopt biases based on gender, race and other factors.
This was not the case, as reflected by Amazon’s recruitment engine in 2018. Amazon created this recruitment tool to make sorting through applications easier, but the tool ended up presenting bias towards male candidates.
“In effect, Amazon’s system taught itself that male candidates were preferable,” according to Reuters. “It penalized resumes that included the word ‘women’s,’ as in ‘women’s chess club captain.’”
With a rise in artificial intelligence programs, New York City introduced a law to regulate AEDTs usage and prevent cases like this from occurring.
The regulation, Local Law 144, will go into effect in the coming months.
Local Law 144 would “require employers to conduct bias audits on automated employment decision tools, including those that utilize...
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