CFP: Ethics of AI in Human Resources - special issue of Ethics and Information Technology

Call for Papers: Ethics of AI in Human Resources - special issue of Ethics and Information Technology

*Extended* submission deadline: March 5, 2021

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms in human resources (HR) allows for hundreds or thousands of job applications to be sifted and evaluated at the touch of a button. Designers of these systems often claim that they are free of individual prejudice, systematic bias, and are even better at discerning the virtues and vices of applicants. Furthermore, some proponents have even claimed that AI could select candidates using synthetic categories that are capable of better predicting future job performance than even the most experienced HR professionals. Despite such claims, ethicists increasingly are finding reason to be sceptical of this technology. On the one hand, the ethical challenges of AI in the HR domain mirror those that have received significant attention in other AI application domains, such as policing and criminal justice, especially surrounding the problem of discriminatory profiling that reinforces historical discrimination. On the other hand, an emerging ethical problem that has been less investigated thus far is the manner in which the use of AI in HR infringes candidates’/employees’ autonomy over self-representation — their ability to choose and control how they communicate their skills, motivation, personality, and experiences, while being subjected to reductionist and opaque quantification of these highly nuanced, contextual, and dynamic qualities. This special issue of Ethics and Information Technology focuses on both kinds of problems.

We invite contributions on the ethics of applying AI in the HR domain for the purpose of recruiting, hiring, employee performance assessment, etc., with special focus on (but not limited to):    

— Autonomy and control over self-representation/presentation

— Fairness, transparency, and justice in socio-technical HR organizational practices involving AI

— Erosion of the idea of a labour market

— Privacy and the right to a non-work private life

— Appropriate distribution of roles and responsibilities among candidates/employees/employers/AI

— Deselection by individual idiosyncrasy and other factors that are not relevant to employment

For further details and submission instructions, please visit https://www.springer.com/journal/10676/updates/18359940

Sincerely,

Guest Editors Evgeni Aizenberg (TU Delft) and Matthew J. Dennis (TU Delft)

For additional questions, please contact Evgeni Aizenberg at [email protected] .