SIOP Task Force on AI-Based Personnel Assessment and Prediction Meets With EEOC

Members of the SIOP Task Force on AI-Based Personnel Assessment and Prediction met with U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Commissioner Keith Sonderling recently to further discuss artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace. Members of the task force first met with Sonderling at the 2022 SIOP Annual Conference in Seattle.

The EEOC “is responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person's race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and related conditions, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information.” The EEOC investigates charges of discrimination against employers and provides leadership and guidance to federal agencies on all aspects of the federal government's equal employment opportunity program.

Chris Nye, chair of the SIOP Task Force on AI-Based Personnel Assessment and Prediction, said this conversation is a continuation of the “great discussion we had in Seattle about how SIOP can increase its visibility and play a bigger role in discussions of AI in the workplace. In this most recent meeting, we discussed new ways that SIOP can work together with members of the EEOC to educate the public on these important topics.”

The group also discussed potential ways for SIOP to engage with other groups and organizations who are working on topics related to the use of AI-based assessments in organizations.

“The key outcome of this meeting is that SIOP is going to cosponsor a webinar in the spring with SHRM that will include Commissioner Sonderling as a keynote speaker,” Nye said. “We will invite a diverse group of experts including lawyers, human resource professionals, and, of course, I-O psychologists to speak about the opportunities and challenges related to the use of AI-based assessments in organizations.”

The webinar, Exploring the Legal and Practical Implications of Using AI-Based Assessments in Hiring, will be held noon to 1 p.m. ET March 23. More information will be shared in the coming months.

Nye said these meetings show that SIOP is concerned about and actively involved in addressing important issues related to the use of AI-based assessments in organizations.

“I have heard from many of our members that this is a critical concern and an urgent need,” he said. “In fact, this has become more salient recently because a major new law in New York City is scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2023, and will affect many of our members.”

The SIOP Task Force on AI-Based Personnel Assessment and Prediction was launched in the fall of 2021 in response to the increasing use of AI in employee selection and promotion. 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. In the spring, the task force issued a statement on AI-based personnel assessment and prediction.

“SIOP is having a visible impact not only among our own members but at the national level as well,” Nye said. “The work that the task force is doing is focused on communicating that SIOP has members with expertise on topics related to the use of AI in organizations and that these members can play an important role in discussions related to AI-based assessments as the legal landscape and general practices related to AI continue to evolve.”