The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Diversity and Inclusion

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Last month, Netflix released its groundbreaking documentary, ‘The Social Dilemma’ — where tech executives in Silicon Valley weighed in on the discussion surrounding data mining, artificial intelligence and the role that data science and analytics plays in social media. There were stunning findings — that what has actually become a commodity is social media user data…which is now a multi-billion dollar game.

So, we now know what’s at stake with social media. But the new question is — what role does artificial intelligence, data mining and data science play in the other aspects of our lives, like our careers or college admissions?

Studies conducted by Prasanna Matsa and KusumaGullamajji assert that artificial intelligence can be applied to human resource processes to improve and streamline performance (Source: International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology, May 2019), but what if AI could be applied to recruiting eliminate racial biases and discrimination in the early stages of hiring? This could be a monumental improvement to hiring practices and have a major impact on human resource management.

When employers seek candidates for hiring, there is often a prescreening process at the initial stages of recruitment. During this screening, recruiters, HR generalists and hiring managers post a job requisition to fill the vacancy and receive resumes in response to the requisition. Studies show that preconceived biases and prejudgments about demographic data included on resumes and applications, i.e. names, age, address, and college attended, often eliminate qualified, viable candidates from being considered for the job. If artificial intelligence was applied to a system or software application to conceal this data in the prescreening part of the hiring process, employers could cast a wider net for applicants.

“There are several companies marketing this claim that they could improve your recruiting results by implementing a software solution with AI embedded in it,“ says Brian Bell, corporate venture finance senior manager at Waste Management in Houston, TX. With the current push for diversity and inclusion initiatives by corporations in response to global protesting of racial injustices and systemic racial discrimination, there’s huge potential there.

Dom Nicastro cited chief people officer Adriana Bokel Herde’s perspective in his CMSWire.com article, stating that “many companies have invested in AI to help them analyze a candidate’s previous work experience and interests and match them with open roles best suited for them, and are also leveraging AI to assess candidates even before they have spent time with a recruiter.”

But what if the technology was embedded to actually eliminate the recruiter or hiring manager’s bias on the front end of the process, using system constraints?

Let’s take a step back even further — to educating potential candidates for job recruitment. In DJ Pangburn’s article for FastCompany.com, software applications like Salesforce are not merely “streamlining the daunting task of pouring over thousands of applications” but are “also being pitched as a way to make the admissions system more equitable — helping schools reduce unseen human biases that can impact admissions decisions.” This, once again, could lead to major progress in minority recruitment to higher-ranking colleges and universities — which would have a domino effect of a larger pool of educated minorities as qualified candidates.

It would be nothing short of revolutionary.