New York City Aims To Combat Artificial Intelligence Bias In Hiring With New Law

New York City is making a bold move by introducing a new law to combat race and gender bias in hiring processes when businesses use artificial intelligence tools to screen out job candidates.

Under the new law – employers in the city will be banned from using automated employment decision tools to screen job candidates unless the technology has been subject to a “bias audit” conducted a year before using the tool.

The new act passed the measure on November 10 and it takes effect on January 2, 2023.

A PricewaterhouseCoopers 2017 study found that 40 percent of international companies use AI applications for HR functions.

Most of them are still US-based, with European and Asian organizations dangling behind.

Examples of discrimination during job processes include the incident at Amazon.com Inc., which eventually stopped using an AI screening in 2017 after discovering that the technology judged female applicants worse than men.

It would mean that businesses will be required to notify employees or candidates if the tool is used to make job decisions.

Those that don’t comply could face a $500 fine for first violations and up to $1,500 for subsequent violations.

NYC is not the only city to go down this road. For example, Illinois previously passed a measure similar to crack down on such technology in employment decisions.