Ethical Guidance on Artificial Intelligence in the Workplace

Technology and its use throughout the workplace is evolving in every organization. As HR leaders, we need to take a proactive approach in embracing these changes and understanding new technologies while ensuring sound, legal policies and procedures are in place. We also need to ensure our workforces and organizations embrace ethical approaches to the utilization of new technologies.

• Proactive Technological Approach: Artificial intelligence, specifically generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, will be utilized more widely in the classroom and the workplace. HR leaders need to welcome this evolving technology and become subject matter experts in how it will impact organizations, decisions and positions. Key questions for you and your organization include how to proactively approach technological evolution and what to do to become better with technology. Avoiding the change is a disservice to you professionally—and to your organization.
• Legal Policies and Procedures: There are many questions you and your organization should explore to ensure you cover the legal landscape. What policies and procedures will be effective in your workplace? Do you implement a policy that bans the use of ChatGPT within the organization, or can it be used for certain projects? Can HR professionals use this technology to do their jobs more efficiently? You must develop legal policies and procedures that are effective for the organization and treat them as living documents; eventually, they all will likely need to be updated as the discipline evolves. SHRM has great resources for foundational policies.
• Communication, Training and Enforcement: Develop training for your workforce on your expectations about using ChatGPT and other AI tools. My recommendation is to relate these components back to the code of ethics and core values in your organization. Giving examples, role-playing and setting clear expectations are necessary for effective implementation and training. Accountability starts at the top, so ensure that leaders embrace the policy and understand the expectations.
• Proactive Audits and Metrics: As with anything, we as HR professionals should measure progress toward AI goals and look for opportunities to improve upon these metrics. Part of this process is conducting proactive AI audits. As laws and regulations slowly take shape across the country (as has happened in Maryland, Illinois and New York City), proactive audits will be necessary to ensure our organizations are operating legally and mitigating risk, but most importantly treating applicants and employees fairly and consistently within the provisions of all policies and processes.

Ethical practices are more than words in a conference room or employee handbook. Ethics is an area lived and breathed throughout the organization, and practicing these ethics starts at the top. As technology continues to evolve, so does the workplace. As a result, proactively embracing technological change, applying ethics to our use of technology, and becoming a subject matter expert in the tools our workforces adopt will be required. At the end of the day, will AI eliminate the HR profession? In my opinion, not a chance. There will always be the need for human intelligence to balance artificial intelligence.

Matthew W. Burr, SHRM-SCP, is owner of Burr Consulting LLC in Elmira, N.Y., and McKinney, Texas; a co-owner of Labor Love LLC; an HR consultant; an adjunct professor; and an on-call mediator and fact finder for the New York State Public Employment Relations Board.