Artificial Intelligence should be responsibly deployed in the workplace to ensure the inclusion of persons with disabilities, as per ILO 

Artificial Intelligence should be responsibly deployed in the workplace to ensure the inclusion of persons with disabilities, as per ILO 

On 28 October, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) published a Policy Brief on Artificial Intelligence and the Employment of persons with disabilities.

The report first presented different accessibility opportunities that AI-powered tools bring to the labour market, including real-time captioning, speech-to-text and sign language interpretation to make communication channels more accessible for individuals with hearing, speech or visual impairments. Additionally, generative AI can be a support system, summarising complex information and breaking down large tasks into smaller, more manageable steps to support organisation and time-management. In hiring, AI can mitigate unconscious human bias by training systems to focus exclusively on skills and qualifications. Additionally, chat-based, untimed AI interviews allow persons with disabilities to demonstrate their skills without the stress or potential misunderstandings in traditional video or in-person interviews.

The report also explains the potential risks of using AI in the workplace. Firstly, it may disadvantage and exclude job seekers and workers with disabilities by perpetuating historical biases and creating new forms of automatic exclusion. For example, AI trained on historical hiring data may reproduce existing labour market patterns such as the underrepresentation of persons with disabilities. Regarding new forms of disability-based discrimination, AI video tools measuring speech patterns and non-verbal cues like eye contact may discriminate against candidates with disabilities. It was also noted how a core challenge of AI is how multi-layered algorithms make it difficult to explain why a particular decision was made.

Finally, the brief provides several recommendations, including

• A responsible deployment and governance of AI, which should augment, not replace, human decision-making.
• When buying or hiring AI solutions, employers should consider the accessibility and ethical principles of AI.
• Companies should embed AI considerations into their disability, equity and inclusion strategies.
• Companies should engage with other key stakeholders such as organisations of persons with disability, National Business and disability networks, regulators, to share experiences and learn from good practices in the use of AI.
• Companies that develop AI should actively involve persons with disabilities, their representative organisations, accessibility experts and HR experts in AI design, development and testing.

ILO Policy Brief “Artificial Intelligence and the Employment of Persons with Disabilities –  Opportunities, Risks and Recommendations” available here.