How to Approach AI and Use It to Advance DEI at Your Organization
Equity At Work’s Recommended Approach to Artificial Intelligence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Efforts
Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be an incredible tool that helps power an organization’s capacity as it designs, develops, and implements robust and effective Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) strategies and initiatives. AI has valuable DEI applications throughout the organization’s operations and across the employee lifecycle.
There are, however, numerous challenges to effectively applying AI in DEI work:
AI platforms provide statistical and pattern-based analysis, not actual knowledge. AI platforms are not human – do not anthropomorphize them (assign them human attributes or characteristics) or treat them as though they are anything other than text-based prediction platforms. AI platforms can identify and synthesize huge amounts of information, but they can only provide a pre-written answer or craft a response based on learned linguistic patterns. AI platforms cannot determine the veracity of any data or information or the reliability of any source.
AI-generated outputs are responses to human inputs. AI platforms seek information in response to human-generated prompts. AI platforms do not attempt to understand subtext or context or what a human user might be trying to articulate – they only respond to text as it is explicitly written by a human user. AI platforms do not think or comprehend or empathize. If an AI platform provides you with something valuable, it is exclusively because a human input (and all of the creativity and thought and care that went into creating that prompt) was good enough to allow the AI platform to find that information.
DEI is deeply sensitive and human work – an organization’s DEI efforts must speak to its unique and specific context and culture and support the entire organization, its components parts, and all of its employees.
AI makes everything seem simple, but DEI is complex and challenging – AI provides an engaging user experience that is very easy for anyone to use; you ask a question and you get an authoritative-seeming answer. But how do you know you are asking the right question? So much of what AI provides comes down to the prompts you input as you seek a solution. The reality, though, is that there is no perfect prompt, so what AI gives you can only be seen as potential solutions, not the solution that speaks to your problem in your specific context.
AI might have access to huge amounts of information, but it does not know your organization – AI experts are rarely DEI experts or experts in your organization’s DEI work, and DEI experts and experts in your organization’s DEI work are rarely experts in AI. This lack of expertise – combined with the simplicity AI platforms offer – can lead to missteps in how best to apply AI to DEI efforts.
AI is guided by algorithms whose inputs and weights we cannot see, and DEI work relies on proven best practices implemented transparently – it is impossible to know what biases might be present in your preferred AI platform or what information or sources the platform prioritizes or downplays, and it is impossible to know what perspectives were and were not included in the development of the platform. AI platforms have access to massive amounts of data and information (although the way in which it accessed some of this information is the subject of ongoing lawsuits), but often the source of the information presented is unknown, and there is the ever-present concern that what the platform provides is completely made up, a hallucination. Who is doing the gut check?
AI cannot replicate skills that people contribute to DEI work – AI can only reflect what already exists; AI cannot truly know or understand your organization, build and sustain productive and meaningful relationships, think critically and creatively, be curious and develop new and innovative ideas, or spend time imagining what could be and how to get there.
Organizations should be open to utilizing AI in DEI efforts, but they should avoid developing an over-reliance on AI as the primary driver of DEI strategy and programming; any application of AI in DEI should be narrow in scope and conducted within clear and transparent organizational guidelines.
And AI can absolutely supplement human capacity, but it should never be considered a replacement for people and what they bring to organizations; any information provided by AI should be reviewed and verified by a human being to ensure it meets your organization’s specific needs.
For the best results, AI in DEI should not be a play for improved employee efficiency or productivity; it should be a play for improved effectiveness, both for DEI leaders and for the organization as a whole.
Artificial Intelligence Use Cases in DEI Strategies and Initiatives
DEI Landscape
AI’s Role: Review a wide variety of news sources and synthesize workplace DEI trends and DEI-related policy and regulatory updates
Your Role: Review the synthesized information, identify how workplace trends and policy and regulatory updates might impact the organization, and develop recommended action plans
DEI Policies
AI’s Role: Synthesize huge amounts of available text and identify sample DEI policies
Your Role: Utilize the AI-generated research as foundation to develop policies that speak to the organization’s specific context and needs
DEI Programming
AI’s Role: Research current trends in DEI and DEI best practices across programs, including Professional Development, Leadership Development, ERGs, and Community Engagement
Your Role: Align DEI trends with organizational needs and adapt AI-generated information to the organization’s specific context, with a specific focus on timing and sequencing
DEI Data Analysis
AI’s Role: Analyze massive data sets, both internal and external and both text-based and numerical, to identify trends and conduct organizational comparisons and industry benchmarking
Your Role: Prioritize the identified trends, determine any additional areas for exploration, and develop organization-specific goals and recommended actions
Inclusive Practices
AI’s Role: Research current trends on inclusive practices and support tasks via offerings translation services
Your Role: Review AI-generated list of practices, prioritize based on organizational context, and develop action plans with timing and sequencing; review AI-generated outputs like translated text to ensure accuracy
Recruiting and Hiring
AI’s Role: Identify potential untapped talent pipelines from underrepresented groups and communities, suggest edits to job descriptions to make them more inclusive, and review hiring processes to identify potential biases within questions or activities
Your Role: Prioritize talent pipelines for engagement, review job description suggestions for applicability and make appropriate revisions, and evaluate hiring process recommendations and make necessary adjustments
Employee Engagement
AI’s Role: Analyze employee engagement data to identify longitudinal trends both organization-wide and for identified groups of employees (demographic and hierarchical)
Your Role: Check analyses for accuracy, discuss identified trends with various stakeholder groups, and develop potential action plans (with a focus on timing and sequencing)
Performance Management
AI’s Role: Research what others have identified as best practices, suggest standardized processes, and it review performance management data to identify trends and potential instances of bias
Your Role: Review identified best practices, determine if each best practice might make sense within your organization, and customize each practice for application in your organizational context
Compensation
AI’s Role: Analyze compensation data, identify pay inequities, and suggest corrective actions
Your Role: Evaluate AI-generated analyses, confirm identified inequities, and use suggested corrective actions as foundation for potential decisions
Promotions, Retention, and Terminations
AI’s Role: Analyze promotion, retention, and termination data to identify trends both organization-wide and for identified groups of employees (demographic and hierarchical)
Your Role: Check analyses for accuracy and against anecdotal data from employee groups and key stakeholders, reinforce strategies where strengths were found, and develop strategies and activities for any areas of opportunity
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