Arena Analytics launched its external AI Ethics Advisory Board – the first human resource technology firm to do so – on January 12, 2021. Arena’s independent Advisory Board brings together human resources leaders and experts from academia, the technology industry, and ethics. The advisors are focused on developing thoughtful and practical guidance on managing ethical questions as Arena deploys novel technologies into the workplace and the labor market. They also seek to break down the silos between the national spheres that touch questions related to technology and workforce—academic, policy, practitioner, and scientist.
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As the market leader in the application of artificial intelligence to workforce challenges, Arena was founded to reduce bias, help organizations optimize their workforce, and match individuals to opportunities where they will thrive. With a recent break-through in its machine learning techniques (leveraging adversarial networks) that significantly reduces algorithmic bias more than was previously possible, the company is looking to deepen its understanding of the ethical risks and opportunities related to its evolving technological capabilities.
“Our labor market practices have – for too long – prevented organizations from assembling the most effective workforces and impeded individuals from moving into the roles where they will be best,” says Arena CEO Michael Rosenbaum. “By deploying technologies that were developed in the intelligence community and other industries, we have been able to reduce bias massively and organize the labor market in a manner that is both more just and more efficient.”
“With the insights, questions, and counsel of this advisory board, we can ensure we are grappling effectively with the numerous ethical and moral questions that inevitably arise from these kinds of leaps in technology,” explains Rosenbaum. “And not only will we then be able to leverage these advancements most appropriately and thoughtfully, but perhaps also we can participate in a national discussion on the ways we think about and manage these technologies as a country and a society.”
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Recent studies published in the Harvard Business Review have highlighted the importance of going beyond current approaches to ethical AI. The common tactic of creating high level AI Ethics principles (ex. Google and Microsoft) has little impact: “seeming coalescence around a shared set of abstract values actually obscures widespread misalignment.” Academic approaches fall short as well since they “do not speak to the highly particular, concrete uses of data and AI translating to the absence of clear directives to the developers on the ground and the senior leaders who need to identify and choose among a set of risk mitigation strategies.”
Arena’s board recognizes these potential pitfalls and is, therefore, taking on the more impactful approach of “operationalizing data and AI ethics.”
“Instead of placing a filter on a polluting smokestack, we are aiming to change the inner workings so fundamentally that there no longer will be a metaphorical smokestack to filter,” says Myra Norton, Arena’s President/COO. “With this extraordinary group in regular communication with each other, providing guidance to Arena’s leaders and team members, we believe we can fully integrate ethics into our operations.”
The board is led by John Sumser, the leading analyst of AI in HRTechnology and founder of HRExaminer. “AI in the HR world is a particularly important arena. Tools that evaluate, recommend, and directly impact human beings are different than tools that recommend products or automate processes. A much higher ethical standard is required when the objects of AI are human. Arena is leading the way with this first ever advisory board. This is the very best way to simultaneously improve the quality of product design while keeping an eye on unintended consequences and managing to mitigate bias.”
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