New York City Employers Prohibited From Availing AI Tools For Hiring

September 22, 2022 By Raulf Hernes

(Image Credit Google)

Mark Girouard, an attorney in the Minneapolis office of Nilan Johnson Lewis who, as a segment of his practice, counsels employers on pre-employment assessments, stated, “If New York City employers are availing an AI-type HR technology tool, whether it’s a pre-employment assessment or video interviews scored by AI or some other selection AI tool, it is probably subject to this new ordinance.” He added, “They will require to start engaging a third party to conduct bias audits of these AI-type HR technology tools to judge the tool’s disparate impact—a neutral policy that could conduct discrimination based on race, ethnicity or sex.” New York City passed a law prohibiting employers from using AI and algorithm-based hiring or promoting before auditing the AI tools. On December 10th, Bill De Blasio, New York City mayor, passed the legislation without signatures effective from January 2nd, 2023. The law applies to a few who are being hired or promoted and are natives but might implement this step across the country. Prohibited AI Tools

The law reported the automated employment decision tool as “any computational process, generated from machine learning, statistical modeling, data analytics, or artificial intelligence that counts classify, or else makes a recommendation regarding candidates and is available to assist or change an employer’s decision-making process. The definition is comprehensive.” Girouard noted, “It’s not understandable if the statute captures only the pure AI tools or sweeps in a broader set of selection tools. If an employer utilizes a traditional pre-employment personality test, for example, scored by an algorithm based on weighting and a combination of components, it could be included—we’re not certain.” Prohibited AI Tools

An attorney in the Seattle office of Davis Wright Tremaine and a member of the firm’s artificial intelligence group, Matthew Jedreski, stated the law might “capture innumerable technologies processed by many employers, which includes software that sources candidates, performs initial resume reviews, helps rank applicants or tracks employee performance.”

About The New Law

Employers will not be allowed to use the AI tool to screen candidates for the job or judge until the AI is audited for bias. The audit needs to be within a year or less and should be made public on the website by the employer. Girouard stated, “It is still unclear when and how often the bias audit would require to be updated and whether the audit is meant to cover the employer’s hiring process in conjunction with the AI tool, or the tool itself more generally. Employers that break to comply may be subject to a fine of up to $500 for a first violation and then penalized by fines between $500 and $1,500 per day for each subsequent violation.” Prohibited AI Tools

Co-founder and CEO of Pymetrics, Frida Polli, a platform for talent matching that uses behavioral science and AI, is a supporter of reducing bias in technology. The company ensures that the AI tool’s algorithms do not have contrasting results. Polli, in support of the law, calls it good and stated, “We have a system that the algorithms work on before they are built that ensures that they are above the threshold that constitutes disparate impact,” She called the law “a good step in the right direction; several beneficial elements are added, including provisions on candidate notification, transparency regarding what data is being evaluated, and testing for disparate impact.” “We test for that and continue to monitor it once it is deployed.” Prohibited AI Tools

The law faces mixed responses, including the endorsers who had previously supported AI. A computer and data science professor at New York University and the founding director of the school’s Center for Responsible AI, Julia Stoyanovich, praised the law and stated it as a “substantial positive development, especially the disclosure components informing candidates about what is being done.” “The law supports informed consent, which is critical, and it’s been utterly lacking to date,” “It also supports at least a limited form of recourse, allowing candidates to seek accommodations or challenge the process.” Digital rights activists showed disappointment with the law. The Center For Democracy and Technology in Washington DC stated the law’s standard is profoundly flawed and weakened. It cannot remove the AI technology bias in employment. Prohibited AI Tools

Matthew Scherer, a senior policy counsel for worker privacy at CDT, mentioned, “The New York City bill could have been a model for jurisdictions around the country to follow, but instead, it is a missed opportunity that fails to hold companies accountable and leaves essential forms of discrimination unaddressed.”

By Raulf Hernes

If you ask me raulf means ALL ABOUT TECH!!

New York City Employers Prohibited From Availing AI Tools For Hiring

About The New Law

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