The UK’s data regulator has called on businesses to review their practices related to automating the hiring process to ensure the right protections are in place.
The use of AI as a part of the hiring process has become extremely common, with numerous automated tools available to sort through candidates, scan CVs and other materials and match applicants to roles.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has acknowledged that automated decision making (ADM) can be beneficial but has warned of the risks of illegal harms in the form of unfair or bias decisions.
Businesses have been urged by the ICO to ensure they are up to date on the laws regarding the topic, including a recent update to the legislation of the Data Use and Access Act.
“Use of AI and automation is rapidly transforming recruitment across the UK – from helping sift CVs to scoring online assessments,” said William Malcolm, executive director for regulatory risk and innovation at the ICO.
“We want to support organisations to take advantage of both recent changes to the law and these new tools.
“But responsible innovation and adoption of this new technology require safeguards to be in place to protect jobseekers – which are foundational to public trust.”
In particular, the ICO has called for greater transparency and improved safeguards for the practice which would include consistency in any human involvement and active monitoring for bias.
“AI has the potential to be the biggest single change to hiring since the internet. Whether this change is positive or negative depends on how we – the UK hiring community – harness and apply it,” said Keith Rosser, chair at the Better Hiring Institute.
“It should be about hiring outputs, leaving humans to focus on the outcomes. The Better Hiring Institute mission is to make UK hiring faster, fairer, and safer, and AI could just as easily hinder as it could help all of these.
“This is why we welcome the employer-centred report from the ICO on ADM and hope it becomes crucial reading for every employer using – or thinking of using – AI and automation in recruitment.”
