As we move further into the 21st century, the use of big data, machine learning, artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation is more prevalent every day. These changes have broad implications for society, for organizations, recruiting and HR professionals. Things are moving quickly!
Here are a few ethical questions for consideration:
- As part of a machine learning project, an engineer provides training set data with the inherent bias of the engineer. This is unlikely a deliberate or malicious effort - the engineer didn’t realize that their worldview is biased vs. someone from another culture or ethnicity. As a result, the machine learning algorithm develops a model that incorporates the bias of the engineer. What is the role of the HR professional in preventing or detecting this oversight?
- An engineer debugging a problem has trouble reproducing the error. The engineer has a friend who uses the product and asks the friend to try a series of steps, then the engineer goes into the back-end data, finds the friend’s identity and usage info, and helps to debug the problem. What if the engineer now uses this capability to look at the records of an ex-spouse, former employer, neighbor, or an enemy? What is the role of the HR professional?
- A new investment and technology breakthrough allows a company to replace workers with a new automated process. After a successful initial pilot, the program is set to expand to impact 10 percent of the workforce. Which workers are selected for replacement? What is the role of the HR professional in helping with the selection, potential retraining, and deployment of the new technology?
- A new customer-targeting algorithm is deployed to increase web sales. The process incorporates web data as well as in-person store visit data and GPS tracking. Several employees feel strongly that this is going too far and invading the privacy of the customer and threaten to quit. The company defends the practice as covered by the terms of service. How does an HR professional navigate these conflicting views in a way that keeps employees engaged?
As technology continues to take a bigger role in our lives, the influence will clearly be felt in the workplace. There are new ethical questions around the use of big data, biases, artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation that we have not encountered before.
May we live in interesting times!
Ross Smith, FRSA Modern Workplace Engineering - Supportability Ross is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and blogger. Author of The Practical Guide to Defect Prevention and holds seven patents. He is currently a Ph.D. Scholar, part of University College Dublin's SmartLab program, researching the impact of AI, robotics, and automation on worker displacement. He has worked at Microsoft for over 28 years and is a member of the Leadership Council for the Anita Borg Institute, co-chair for Grace Hopper Organizational Transformation track. He is a co-leader of ABI Local in Seattle, and part of the gender partner LT and ”male ally” panel discussions at the IEEE Women in Technology and National Center for Women in Technology (NCWIT) Summit and TechCrunch. Work with iUrbanTeen and Native Americans at Microsoft. He is a member of the board of Spreeha, working to break the cycle of poverty. Developed 42projects to promote cultural change, develop organizational trust and improve the lives of the managed. To help develop the next generation’s interest in STEAM (STEM+Arts), he works with Skype in the Classroom program and events like iUrbanTeen day at Microsoft. He was invited to the White House for discussion on women in STEM. Keynote speaker for the ARTBA’s Transovation 2014-2016. The work of his teams has been mentioned in Forbes, The Economist, the Wall Street Journal, PSFK, the American Journal of Play, Harvard Business Review, and the London School of Business. He has presented at SXSW, MIT Solve, Grace Hopper, Serious Play, Games for Change, and several other large conferences. His academic research papers are published on ResearchGate. He is a blogger for SHRM has worked on Skype Translator. He is an avid reader and loves to travel.
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