The City of New York (NYC) has enacted a new ordinance that appears to be clearly designed to restrict if not effectively deter the use by private sector employers of artificial intelligence (AI) in their hiring and promotion processes. Out of all the AI measures passed or considered at the state and local level thus far, the NYC ordinance is by far the most restrictive we’ve yet seen.
According to its supporters, the new law is necessary to reduce the risk that AI technologies will cause biased and discriminatory outcomes, and accomplishes this through the creation of special audit and notice requirements for any employer that wants to use AI in recruiting and in making other employment decisions. For example, among other things, the ordinance requires covered employers to undertake a third-party independent audit of any “automated decision tools” no more than a year before the technology is to be used to “assess the tool’s disparate impact on persons” based on their race, ethnicity, and sex.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.