Jobs Site Agrees to Use AI to Find Bias

​A recent hiring bias settlement with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has resulted in a "beneficial" use for artificial intelligence technology, even as the agency has been strongly cautioning employers about AI's potential pitfalls in employment.

DHI Group Inc.—which operates Dice, a jobs site for technology professionals—reached an agreement with the EEOC to resolve discrimination charges on the basis of national origin. The agency claimed that job ads on the site discriminated against U.S. workers while favoring foreign workers and students.

An investigation concluded that the company violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 "when some of its customers posted positions on Dice.com that excluded those of American national origin, thereby deterring a class of workers from applying," the agency said in a statement.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits employers or staffing firms from publishing job listings that indicate a preference or limitation based on national origin.

DHI agreed to revise its guidance to customers to include instructions to avoid language such as "H-1Bs Only" or "H-1Bs and OPT Preferred." (International students with an F-1 visa can work in the U.S. through the optional practical training, or OPT, program.)

AI to the Rescue

In an interesting development, the jobs site agreed to use AI programming technology to comb through its job listings for national origin bias. Under the agreement, Dice will use technology to scrape "potentially discriminatory keywords such as 'OPT,' 'H-1B' or 'visa' that appears near the words 'only' or 'must' in its customer's new job postings," the EEOC said.

Chelsae J. Ford, a trial attorney and coordinator for the EEOC's Miami District, said that "DHI's use of programming to scrape for potentially discriminatory postings illustrates a beneficial use of artificial intelligence in combatting employment discrimination."

[SHRM members-only toolkit: Using Artificial Intelligence for Employment Purposes]

The EEOC action is significant for a couple of reasons, said Benjamin Ebbink, an attorney in the Sacramento office of Fisher Phillips.

"First, it underscores the EEOC's continued focus on discrimination in hiring, including on job postings or job-search websites. With continued focus on job postings and pay transparency, including third-party websites, this is going to be an area of scrutiny for some time," he said. 

Ebbink added that the announcement that DHI Group will use AI-style programming to scrape job advertisements for potentially discriminatory terms is also momentous.

"Much of the attention on AI in recent weeks and months has been fairly negative, focusing on concerns over discriminatory bias and the need for additional safeguards," he said. "This announcement does highlight the fact that—even as acknowledged by the EEOC—AI can be a force for good. It's a good reminder that AI can have beneficial uses and also be part of the solution when it comes to employment discrimination, rather than part of the problem."