SIOP Issues Statement on AI-Based Personnel Assessment and Prediction

SIOP recently issued a statement on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for hiring, which was created by the SIOP Task Force on AI-Based Personnel Assessment and Prediction. The task force launched last fall in response to the increasing use of AI in employee selection and promotion.

The statement, which provides guidance on the effective use of AI-based assessments, can be viewed here.

“Although organizations have been assessing employees and job applicants for many years, the rapid growth and implementation of AI-based assessments has left many organizations looking for guidelines on how to use this new technology both effectively and legally,” said Task Force Chair Chris Nye. “Although this topic is complex and there are many factors to consider, we hope that SIOP’s statement on AI-based assessments can provide organizational leaders and others who are interested in this topic with some initial guidelines to consider as they implement and explore the use of AI-based assessments.”

Assessments are intended to indicate one’s standing on a particular attribute or set of attributes. Traditionally, test-takers’ responses to such assessments are viewed as reflecting their knowledge, skills, abilities, or other characteristics (e.g., personality, work styles, etc.). However, many new and emerging assessment technologies, largely falling under the umbrella of AI, rely on large amounts of data collected from individuals, including information pulled from social media, personal characteristics related to voice and facial features, and responses to non-traditional stimuli such as games or trace data (e.g., reaction time or clicks/taps within an app). Many of these new relatively passive assessment technologies rely on the use of algorithms, developed under the umbrella of machine learning (ML), to make predictions about an individual’s future performance, knowledge level, propensity to turnover, or some other relevant outcome.

With members who are experts on topics such as hiring and talent management, employee assessment, measurement bias, and the use of AI-based technologies in the workplace, SIOP is uniquely suited to provide guidance and leadership on the issues related to the development and implementation of AI/ML-based assessments that are used for employment decision-making.

The overall charge of the task force is to increase awareness of scientific research on the effective use of AI-based assessments and to propose guidelines for their use in organizations. This statement is the first in a series of resources to be developed by the task force over the next 2 years. Additional resources will be posted on the SIOP website for use by the public and for members to use and share.

For more information, email Chris Nye.