What is Equitable AI?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing how organizations do everything from hiring to employee training and performance reviews. It has the power to streamline processes, analyze large volumes of information, and enhance human capabilities. However, there are serious concerns that workplace technologies enabled by AI could lead to unfair outcomes and increase employer discrimination against job seekers and existing employees, including those with disabilities.
It’s essential that organizations understand these potential risks so they can take proactive steps to reduce them and help make their workplaces more inclusive of diverse employees. In addition, organizations can create a culture of questioning how well AI implementations adhere to ethics, responsibility, and equitable outcomes.
Why is Equitable AI important to Your Organization?
According to McKinsey & Company, one certainty for leaders in 2021 is dealing with uncertainty. Part of addressing uncertainty involves adopting strategies as we adjust to changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. These include focusing on organizational design and culture change, strengthening talent management and enabling reskilling, and prioritizing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) as a strategic effort. In addition to potential impacts on stakeholders’ perceptions of an organization, DEIA is a key strategy leveraged by diverse and inclusive organizations to unlock innovation and resilience, which are essential to their ongoing health and economic recovery.
Organizations can experience significant benefits when they proactively implement practices that help ensure AI technologies produce equitable outcomes, especially in areas like talent acquisition. Organizations that put a strategic focus on DEIA when building a business case for Equitable AI can reduce branding risks, improve employee retention, improve product and service quality, increase growth, and reduce legal risk. Implementing Equitable AI should be a key part of organizations’ DEIA effort to increase employee opportunities and improve outcomes for all employees—regardless of race, ethnicity, disability, age, gender identity or expression, religion, sexual orientation, or economic status.
