“That’s our profession, and that’s what we know best,” EEOC Commissioner Keith Sonderling shared at a recent Fish Phillips AI Strategies Work Conference.
Companies need to remember that whether a computer or a human is responsible for bias employment decisions, in the end the employer will be liable, as far as the EEOC is concerned. This makes it crucial for employers to take the time to work with skilled vendors who will help lower the risk of AI going awry.
Employers should also remain diligent about testing to ensure their AI systems are not vulnerable to errors. “Proactively doing audits helps with liability,” Sonderling said, “because if you can find the issues, you can fix them before there’s continued discrimination.”