Extract from Michael D. Schlemmer, Kimberley E. Lunetta, and Zachary W. Shine’s article “AI in the Workplace: The New Legal Landscape Facing Us Employers”
Artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly transforming the employment landscape, automating tasks, streamlining processes, and enhancing decision-making. At the same time, the technology raises concerns about potential biases, accuracy, and increasingly complex legal compliance.
As AI’s influence grows in the United States, so too has government oversight. Lawmakers and policymakers—from the Biden administration to city governments—have issued guidance, policies, and laws to govern the use of AI in the workplace, giving employers a new legal landscape to navigate.
AI RISK OVERVIEW
Employers are turning to AI to make time-consuming tasks more efficient, using the technology to streamline the recruiting process, find ways to eliminate human bias, and advance diversity. However, employers should be aware that using AI is not without risk.
While employers could use AI to help increase diversity, a poorly designed or trained AI tool has the potential to discriminate on a much larger scale. Even if the algorithm ignores demographic information, certain attributes correlate with demographics. Further, biased model inputs are likely to lead to biased outputs. In an effort to predict success, AI may improperly develop correlations and assumptions based on factors that are not job related.
Aside from potential discrimination and regulatory compliance risks, the use of AI in a workplace raises concerns of potential leaks of sensitive or confidential information (of the company, candidates, employees, or third parties). There are also questions about whether something created by AI can be protected as propriety company property, and whether the use of AI might hinder employee development.
