- The toolkit aims to help organizations and human resources professionals navigate the opportunities and perils of using artificial intelligence for tasks such as hiring and training
- Over 200 HR professionals in private, public, and civil society organizations reviewed the toolkit contents.
- An accompanying white paper discusses the lessons learned from the project and new issues that are on the horizon for AI in HR
- Read the full report and toolkit here
Roderick Beudeker, senior associate within the Baker McKenzie’s Employment Law team in Amsterdam, has collaborated with the World Economic Forum in developing a toolkit that provides practical guidance on the responsible use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the field of HR. “Human-Centered AI for Human Resources: A Toolkit for Human Resources Professionals” includes a guide covering key topics and steps in the responsible use of AI-based HR tools, and two checklists - one focused on strategic planning and the other on the adoption of a specific tool.
This project was led by World Economic Forum Fellow Professor Matissa Hollister from McGill University, in collaboration with Roderick, as well as Fellows from New America, and the Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Türkiye.
Roderick was included in this collaboration during his secondment to the World Economic Forum’s Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR), an initiative that brings together leading businesses, start-ups, academia and international organizations to collaborate for the greater good by maximizing the benefits of science and technology. Baker McKenzie became one of the founding partners and first law firm sponsors of the C4IR, as part of its global innovation strategy, known as Reinvent.
Recent years have witnessed a rapid expansion of tools that leverage AI to take on human resources tasks such as hiring, training, and employee engagement. These tools aim to harness the power of AI to manage talent in ways that are more effective, fair, and efficient.
However, the use of AI in HR raises data privacy and bias concerns. It also poses operational, reputational, and legal risks to organizations, especially with recent moves in several countries to regulate its use. Therefore, there is high interest in using artificial intelligence for human resources tasks, but also apprehension.
To help organizations overcome these challenges, the World Economic Forum collaborated with over 50 experts in HR, data science, employment law, and ethics to create a practical toolkit for the responsible use of AI in this field.
Speaking after the launch, Roderick said, “I am excited and honored to have collaborated with the World Economic Forum on developing this important toolkit. My time at the C4IR gave me the opportunity to both contribute to society and gain knowledge about what challenges and risks are ahead of us. Artificial Intelligence and machine learning have a huge impact on the labor market and business as well as governments are increasingly keen to understand the issues. This toolkit will help them to address this.”
“The use of AI in Human Resources is becoming prolific and yet it can be riddled with ethical AI problems such as bias. For this and other reasons the EU has named it a high-risk use of AI. This multi-stakeholder work helps all users to take the right decisions when using these tools,” said Kay Firth-Butterfield, Head of AI and Machine Learning at the World Economic Forum.
The toolkit contents were reviewed by over 300 HR professionals in private, public, and civil society organizations through focus groups, workshops, and in-depth pilots. The accompanying white paper published along with the toolkit highlights the lessons learned from the project and piloting experiences, and discusses new issues that are on the horizon for AI in HR.