AI in the Workplace: What Employers Need to Know

Artificial Intelligence has quickly become a staple in most industries. Its ability to synthesize large volumes of data and communicate quickly and clearly with users has revolutionized how organizations approach problems. As organizations adopt and incorporate AI into their workforces, they should be mindful of several considerations.

Applications and Hiring

Hiring and interviewing is an arduous process. Websites such as LinkedIn and Indeed allow job postings to reach massive audiences of potential candidates. And with that comes large volumes of resumes, cover letters, and applications that can become tedious to sift through. For this reason, employers may be tempted to use AI to help screen applicants. However, organizations should be careful in using AI for this purpose.

Studies have shown that AI has exhibited racial, gender, and ageist bias in screening applicants in the past. This has caused some observers to note that using AI to screen applicants could result in a disparate impact claim against employers. Under a disparate impact claim, an employer can be held liable for any policies that disproportionately affect minority groups.

Using AI to Perform Job Duties

Many employees have integrated AI into their daily job duties and used it to become far more efficient in how they perform their job. However, AI is known to “hallucinate”, generating false or misleading information for the user. Many attorneys have already been disciplined for presenting fake case citations to courts, only to have it revealed that AI provided them with those fake citations.

Similarly, AI often creates work product similar to the information on which it is trained. Many times, this information is copyrighted, which can give rise to a claim for copyright infringement. If the content that AI generates is too similar in appearance or tone, it could result in an employer’s content being removed from the Internet, or a lawsuit alleging copyright infringement.

Private and Confidential Information

AI is trained on data sets. As it receives more information from users, it incorporates that information to provide better responses to user prompts. As a result, any confidential or private information provided to AI will in some way be used by the AI in the future. This creates a risk that the confidential or private information could be publicly disclosed.

Employers need to set clear policies and guidelines regarding the use of AI confidential and private information. If an employee inadvertently provides information containing a social security number or a proprietary business strategy, then the private or confidential nature of that information has likely been spoiled. Recognizing this, some AI providers have created “closed” systems to prevent the disclosure. However, it is not clear at this point whether the information provided to a “closed” AI application remains truly confidential.

AI, like most technology, is disruptive. That disruption creates the opportunity for great things. It also promises to radically change how everyone performs their job duties. For this reason, employers need to take care that they have procedures and policies in place that protect them from implementation of this technology.

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This guest blog article was written by Kevin R. Kelleher, JD, Associate in the Labor & Employment Practice Group at Bailey Cavalieri. He brings a practical, proactive approach to helping employers navigate workplace challenges and, whenever possible, prevent them before they become problems.