AMS launches Responsible AI offer in anticipation of greater regulation in AI talent technology

• AMS Responsible AI, an exclusive partnership with Holistic AI to audit talent technology products for compliance with new regulation
• Launch comes as NYC Bias Audit Law enforced from July 2023 prohibiting use of AI in decision-making without independent audit
• Further regulation anticipated in Europe as take-up of AI talent technology continues

May 11, 2023, Cleveland, OH — AMS, the global talent solutions business has announced it has entered into an exclusive partnership with the AI governance, risk and compliance platform, Holistic AI, to bring to market a new offer – AMS Responsible AI.

AMS Responsible AI brings AMS’s talent knowledge to bear alongside Holistic AI’s diagnostic tool and approach. The subsequent audit, the first of its type, is aimed at ensuring organizations understand how their AI technology is being used and brought to bear on decision making, across their talent technology stack and in their sourcing and hiring activities. The audit assigns a score, indicating each tools level of AI sophistication and risk, a first among HR software review tools.

With regulation in the AI talent technology space fast approaching, the need for organizations to understand the use of AI tools within their HR tech stacks is crucial.  In November 2021, the New York City (NYC) Council passed The NYC Bias Audit Law. From July 2023, companies will be prohibited from using automated tools in the decision-making process to hire candidates or promote employees, unless the tools have been independently audited for bias. Further legislation is expected in other jurisdictions in the US and across Europe.

Earlier this month, in an exclusive interview with AMS, US Equal Employment Opportunity Commissioner, Keith Sonderling said “You can use the latest AI technology to source the most diverse applicant pools, but the bottom-line decision on who to hire must be based upon their actual ability to perform the job at hand, through their qualifications, skills, or potential.”

Sonderling adds: “If you’re using AI to unlawfully include certain or exclude certain individuals, let’s say based upon age, now you have a digital record available that will be eventually produced in legal discovery. You have proof of them clicking and making the AI produce and select or exclude these exact candidates.”

AMS Managing Director, Tech Strategy & Partners, Jonathan Kestenbaum said: “AI in talent technology can be a fantastic tool to reduce bias and broaden hiring pools, fairly and appropriately.  In a tight talent market this can really power a skills-based talent acquisition approach. Where hiring processes are complex or technology stacks have been added to or built over time, the certainty of knowing where and how and who makes the decisions in the process can be more difficult to understand.  With regulation fast coming down the track and organizations such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alive to the potential of bias it’s important companies understand their processes and their responsibilities. Like all technology, AI when used well can be a game-changer for talent strategies but companies have a responsibility to ensure their processes remain fair and equal.”

Holistic AI will host a webinar:
Workplace relations in the age of AI: Practices, regulations and the future of equal opportunity laws.

Date & Time:
May 18, 2023, 11.30am ET

Speakers:
US EEOC Commissioner Keith Sonderling, AMS Managing Director, Tech Strategy & Partners, Jonathan Kestenbaum

Register here:
Workplace Relations in the Age of AI: Practices, Regulations and the Future of Equal Opportunity Laws