Responsible HR (Human Resources) for a Disruptive AI (Artificial Intelligence)

In his book “The Coming Wave” Mustafa Suleyman argued the double-edged sword of AI: AI can go to two opposite extremes; “It can be a powerful tool for extraordinary good, but, like most forms of power, one fraught with immense dangers and ethical too;” He urged the society to be prepared for it.

HR is no exception. HR leaders “have a significant opportunity to lead the way. It is important not to miss the moment.”

I will explore, in this article, how AI is disrupting HR, elaborate the critical inherent risks and essential actions for a Responsible HR to embrace the upcoming wave.

AI Footprints in HR Life Cycle

AI is infiltrating and disrupting different aspects of HR, from attracting to developing, growing, engaging, retaining, and supporting employees. It presents opportunities for increased improvements in insights and efficiency across the entire industry spectrum and employee life cycle.

HR is now harnessing AI to optimize operations and improve employee experiences, moving to a more proactive and strategic role that drive growth. And, we can see AI footprints on different HR processes.

AI-enabled tools can now scan resumes, evaluate candidate qualifications, and even conduct preliminary interviews through chatbots. AI provides hiring managers and HR, decision-making support, and resulted in decrease of sourcing spend, time to hire reduction and enhanced candidate experience.

Through, both descriptive and predictive analytics, AI enhances employee engagement enabling organizations to address potential issues proactively and retain top talent with effective reward and recognition strategies.

AI contributes to fostering a caring work culture, ultimately enhancing employee wellness. AI enables organizations to implement tailored wellness programs and support mechanisms. This ensures that employees feel valued and cared for.

Although the impact might be seen as bright and promising, there are some challenges and inherent risks that HR should monitor during the adoption of such technologies

Challenges and Risks in Integrating AI with HR

The challenges and inherent risks resulting from the adoption of AI in HR are many and we will shed light on the ones we see as the most critical:

Data Privacy and Violation:

• Challenges: to ensure data reliability and maintain data privacy and protection
• Risks: Privacy violation as AI systems might compromise privacy by the unauthorized use/disclosure of personal or sensitive information which can have monstrous outcomes
• Some Facts: In June 2021, 700 million LinkedIn users; and, In April 2019, more than 530 million Facebook users were exposed to the public; leading to huge fines and loss of trust.

• Actions:

  • Shape policies that govern AI’s ethical use
  • Collect, use, share, archive, and delete data for AI systems in ways that respect the right to privacy and are consistent with local and applicable laws

AI Bias and Discrimination

• Challenges:
  • Ensure the quality and completeness of “training data” that reflects diverse and inclusive perspectives;
  • Source the right talent with the ethical AI values; and,
  • Explain the decisions made by AI systems and provide evidence of fairness, accuracy, and transparency.
• Risks: Relying on discriminative data and biased algorithms, would lead to AI hallucinations, i.e. generating wrong insights, inaccurate predictions, or false misleading information undermining decision-making; as this may affect positively or negatively employees
• Some Facts: Amazon stopped using a hiring algorithm after finding it favored male applicants; A program will often translate the English term “nurse” using a female-gendered word, and a male noun for “doctor”; Chevrolet AI Chatbot Offers Car for $1

• Actions:

  • Introduce controls and implement mechanisms to detect and correct biases;
  • Diversify AI development teams
  • Develop an AI competency framework, that includes “Human” skills and provides relevant training
  • Document how the process and model development

Over-dependence on Generative AI and LLM

• Challenges:
  • Balancing the use of Generative AI and LLM; and.
  • Keeping employee independence
• Risks:
  • Leakage of the organization's confidential information; and,
  • Depreciation of employee knowledge
• Some Facts: Samsung engineers fed sensitive data regarding a confidential source code to ChatGPT, in another incident an employee requested ChatGPT to generate the minutes of an internal meeting. In another recent example, Amazon found responses from the LLM closely resembled sensitive company information
• Actions:
  • Issue clear guidance on how to use generative AI highlighting the risk of sharing any company sensitive and confidential data;
  • Foster continuous learning, emphasizing human verification and critical thinking

AI Wave: The Rippling Effects on Human Resources and Workforce

One of the key concerns for employees: “Will AI replace us in the workplace?”

The emergence of transformative technologies, such as calculators and Excel, illustrates the importance of adaptability in embracing innovation. These tools enhanced efficiency and analysis capabilities, proving that technology can empower individuals to perform their roles more effectively. Similarly, AI serves as a powerful ally, offering advanced predictive capabilities that optimize decision-making.

Hence, Technology will not replace employees. With the implementation of AI, some of the tasks will become obsolete and there will be a need for new skills to drive progress. AI incorporation into different organizational processes augments our people's ability to drive more value and to make better decisions for achieving sustainable success.

Responsible HR

As AI reshapes the workplace, HR stands at the forefront of this transformation, playing a pivotal role in integrating AI with the employee experience and aligning it with organizational values.

As responsible HR, leaders to be more involved in shaping strategy, policy, people management, and system

1. Strategy:

• Evaluate the risks and benefits of AI implementation in HR
• Develop an AI HR &Talent Strategy in line with the corporate AI integration strategy to enhance human capabilities

2. Policy:

Work closely with different stakeholders (Legal, IT, Strategy, Communication) to:

• establish a set of guidelines and best practices that ensure AI technologies affecting the workforce are developed and implemented ethically throughout the organization
• manage change and gain employee buy-in for AI tools by communicating how the tools are there to assist, not judge

3. People:

• Develop an AI competency framework, encompassing AI Technical skills and business skills and emphasizing “Human” skills which cover, ethics, professionalism, collaboration, creative thinking, mindfulness, and inclusions, etc. Keep identifying new job opportunities and highlighting new skill requirements
• Source diversified AI teams and increase the AI literacy of employees involved in AI implementation and HR professionals in particular,
• Offering training comprising AI ethics, diversity and equity, and AI skills and development helping employees grow professionally.

4. System:

• While HR is not required to develop algorithms, they can ensure that training data reflects diverse and, inclusive perspectives
• Develop new metrics, and in collaboration with AI experts, perform ongoing testing to assess AI fairness, accuracy, explainability, and impact on performance and engagement

Conclusion

HR leaders are responsible for directing the implementation of AI in specific HR organizational processes such as Talent Acquisition, Talent Management, and Retention. They need to evolve into AI ethics experts, shaping policies that govern AI’s ethical use.

By understanding how AI affects the workforce, HR can better prepare everyone for the changes to come. Properly addressing this wave of technological advancement involves ensuring that AI always serves humanity.