The Pentagon denounces AI for deleting webpages about historical figures
The page about historical figures has been removed from the Pentagon website during a push to purge Day. Officials say artificial intelligence is responsible.
The lawsuit against Workday alleges that the company’s screening technology discriminates against job seekers based on race, age and disability when employers raise new legal questions about how artificial intelligence is used in employment decisions.
Derek Mobley filed a discrimination lawsuit against a HR software company in 2023, claiming that over seven years, he was repeatedly denied after applying for hundreds of positions.
Four other plaintiffs over the age of 40 participated in the lawsuit, denounced AI-recommended technology that screens and ranks job seekers to “disproportionately” prevent older workers from “ensuring harmful employment.”
California federal judge Rita Lynn ruled on Friday that the case could proceed as a class action, and Mobley could “also provide the opportunity to notify individuals in the suit of circumstances and choose to collectively hear their claims.”
“We continue to believe that there is no merit in this case,” Workday said in a statement. “This is a preliminary procedural decision at the beginning of this case, which relies on claims rather than evidence. The court has not made any substantial findings on the workday and has not found that this case can be advanced as a class action lawsuit.
Workday lawsuits raise new issues regarding the use of AI, indicating the potential legal exposure of AI vendors and employers that are increasingly dependent on them.
HR experts lean heavily towards AI technology to screen and rank applications and resumes. While technology saves talent and time, civil rights experts say the technology may have hidden prejudices that discriminate against job seekers based on protected characteristics such as gender and race.
“AI tools are trained with a large amount of data and predict future outcomes based on the correlations and patterns of that data. Many of the tools employers use are trained with data on the employer’s own workforce and previous employment processes.
In 2014, Amazon’s team of engineers began building algorithms to review their resumes and determine which applicants the tech giant should hire. The system was scrapped a year later because it discriminated against women applying for technical work.
Mobley said since 2010 Morehouse College and Expecchient have received multiple automated refusals, despite having earned financial degrees in a variety of financial, help desk and customer service positions, sometimes within an hour. These systems are not “racial neutral, disability neutral or age neutral,” Mobley said in his complaint.
Another plaintiff, Jill Hughes, said she also received automated denials for hundreds of roles, often within hours.
