Overview
Purpose
The Equitable AI Playbook is a blueprint that can help your organization foster inclusion as you procure, develop or implement artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in your workplace. Organizations are increasingly using AI to screen job candidates, streamline the application process, monitor employee actions, and provide employee training. However, AI technologies can often be unintentionally biased and produce unfair outcomes for different protected classes. This can increase the risk of bias and discrimination against job candidates and employees.
With this Playbook, PEAT aims to help organizations adopt Equitable AI practices that promote employment success for people with disabilities. The scalable practices in this Playbook can—and should—be implemented in the context of broader Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) efforts related to race, ethnicity, age, gender identity or expression, religion, sexual orientation, or economic status. Disability is one identity that can overlap with any of these protected groups. As a result, an organization’s comprehensive focus on DEIA is essential to supporting the full range of experiences that people with disabilities bring to the workplace. When it comes to fostering all the traits that make up human diversity, AI technologies may falter, or even fail. The practices in this Playbook can be utilized by both organizations who are implementing a new AI governance program, and by organizations that already have an AI governance program in place.
The Equitable AI Playbook is part of PEAT’s overarching AI & Disability Inclusion Toolkit, which provides overall guidance to employers for understanding how AI is used in the workplace, how to assess the new risks and modes of discrimination it may carry, and resources for implementing Equitable AI.
Note on Terminology
Equitable AI overlaps with many other terms that your organization may already be using. See our Glossary for a discussion of how these different terms relate to each other. Your organization may already have efforts underway addressing “Responsible AI” and “Ethical AI.” If so, it likely makes sense to integrate inclusivity priorities into these existing efforts.
Note on Organization and Roles
While an organization may benefit from different approaches, this Playbook discusses targeted guidance for leveraging the “Hub-and-spoke” organizational model. See Organization and Roles for a detailed description of this recommended approach. The existence and specific names of the roles will vary based on your organization’s size, maturity, and other factors.
Contents
This Playbook is organized into ten Plays. These are sets of practices to be implemented as part of your Equitable AI initiative—from developing a vision through weaving best practices into your organization’s culture. In each Play, you will find:
Tips to Get Started
Suggested practices to consider as you build a foundation for your ongoing Equitable AI initiative.
Tips for Ongoing Operations
Suggested practices to consider as you implement, advance, and improve your Equitable AI initiative.
Guiding Questions
Questions to ask and answer to help guide your organization.
Resources
Further readings, research, and resources to help educate your team and guide your initiative.
Audience
This Playbook is designed to be used by leaders, general staff, and consultants who are or will play a role in planning for or implementing AI technologies in their organization. Common departments to involve include Information Technology (IT), Human Resources (HR), Legal, Compliance, and those leading efforts related to DEIA.
Methodology
The suggestions in this Playbook are based on promising practices gathered from PEAT’s partners, research publications, and the collective knowledge and experiences of the authors. It was also informed by strategies presented in The Method and The Magic: Every Leader’s Guide to Making Transformational Change Happen by Laurie Axelrod and Beth McDonald of Wheelhouse Group.
