EU chief warns against uncontrolled use of AI to ‘hire and fire’ employees

BERLIN

The European Commission chief Thursday warned against the uncontrolled use of artificial intelligence (AI) to “hire and fire” employees.


Speaking at the 15th Congress of the European Trade Union Confederation, Ursula von der Leyen defended EU’s plans to regulate AI systems.


She said at present, 25% of European companies are planning to use AI tools in human resource management, and some of these tools could be used for automated dismissals.


“Every algorithm is designed by a programmer, and this person has a background, and this person has biases. So, none of the algorithms is free of biases,” she said.


“And therefore, we should be very, very clear. No one should be fired because of an algorithm. This cannot be. We need rules,” she added.


Von der Leyen underlined that the EU Commission is keeping an eye on the developments, and may take further steps to regulate the use of algorithms in human resource management.