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U.S. NEWS Friday 19 May 2023
Check your artificial intelligence ‘bossware’

tools for bias, says U.S. agency head

By MATT O’BRIEN our enforcement author- data that comes from its
AP Technology Writer ity when it’s necessary,” existing employees. And
The head of the U.S. agen- Burrows said. “We want to if you have a non-diverse
cy charged with enforc- work with employers, but set of employees currently,
ing civil rights in the work- there’s certainly no exemp- you’re likely to end up with
place says artificial intelli- tion to the civil rights laws kicking out people inadver-
gence-driven “bossware” because you engage in tently who don’t look like
tools that closely track the discrimination some high- your current employees.”
whereabouts, keystrokes tech way.” Amazon, for instance,
and productivity of workers The federal agency put out abandoned its own re-
can also run afoul of dis- its latest set of guidance sume-scanning tool to re-
crimination laws. Thursday on the use of au- cruit top talent after finding
Charlotte Burrows, chair tomated systems in em- it favored men for techni-
of the Equal Employment ployment decisions such cal roles — in part because
Opportunity Commission, as who to hire or promote. it was comparing job can-
told The Associated Press It explains how to interpret didates against the com-
that the agency is trying a key provision of the Civil pany’s own male-dominat-
to educate employers Rights Act of 1964 known ed tech workforce.
and technology providers as Title VII that bars job dis- Other agencies, including
about their use of these crimination based on race, the Department of Justice,
surveillance tools as well color, national origin, reli- have been sending similar The emblem of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity
as AI tools that streamline gion or sex, which includes warnings for the past year, Commission is shown on a podium in Vail, Colo., Tuesday, Feb.
the work of evaluating job bias against gay, lesbian with previous sets of guid- 16, 2016, in Denver.
prospects. and transgender workers. ance about how some AI Associated Press
And if they aren’t careful Burrows said one important tools could discriminate
with say, draconian sched- example involves widely- against people with disabil- gin in favor of immigrants ees who believe they were
ule-monitoring algorithms used resumé screeners and ities and violate the Ameri- seeking work visas. To settle discriminated against. And
that penalize breaks for whether or not they can cans with Disabilities Act. the case, the parent com- while it’s hard for job ap-
pregnant women or Mus- produce a biased result if In some cases, the EEOC pany, DHI Group, agreed plicants to know if a bi-
lims taking time to pray, or they are based on biased has taken action. In March, to rewrite its programming ased hiring tool resulted in
allowing faulty software data. the operator of tech job- to “scrape” for discrimina- them being denied a job,
to screen out graduates “What will happen is that search website Dice.com tory language such as “H- Burrows said there is “gen-
of women’s or historically there’s an algorithm that settled with the agency to 1Bs Only,” a reference to a erally more awareness”
Black colleges – they can’t is looking for patterns that end an investigation over type of work visa. among workers about the
blame AI when the EEOC reflect patterns that it’s al- allegations it was allow- Much of the EEOC’s work tools that are increasingly
comes calling. ready familiar with,” she ing job posters to exclude involves investigating the being used to monitor their
“I’m not shy about using said. “It will be trained on workers of U.S. national ori- complaints filed by employ- productivity.q

10K bridges similar to Pittsburgh one that collapsed should be checked

that failed allowed the had become clogged cused on the maintenance
metal legs to deteriorate again. issues with these steel bridg-
over time. It determined Pennsylvania Department es in response to the NTSB’s
Pennsylvania neglected of Transportation spokes- preliminary findings.
for years to perform the woman Alexis Campbell “Safe, reliable infrastruc-
maintenance needed to said the agency is still re- ture is a top priority of the
clear the debris, dirt and viewing everything the (Gov. Josh) Shapiro admin-
leaves that were causing NTSB released Thursday, istration, and we are com-
the problem, even though and the state will continue mitted to ensuring Pennsyl-
inspectors noted the issue. cooperating with the inves- vanians and all motorists
Rust that caused the dete- tigation. Last fall, the state can travel across the Com-
rioration of the Pittsburgh Transportation Department monwealth safely,” Camp-
bridge’s steel legs and al- issued a safety bulletin fo- bell said. q
lowed holes to form in the
structure was noted on ev-
This is a Pittsburgh Transit Authority bus that was on the Fern ery inspection done since
Hollow Bridge in Pittsburgh when it collapsed in this file photo 2005, including one com-
from Jan. 28, 2022. pleted just four months be-
Associated Press fore the Fern Hollow Bridge
By JOSH FUNK don’t have the same kind collapsed on Jan. 28, 2022.
Associated Press of corrosion that was found Work was done in 2009 to
Investigators looking into on the bridge that col- clear the debris clogging
the collapse of a Pittsburgh lapsed. the bridge’s drainage sys-
bridge want transporta- The National Transporta- tem, but that wasn’t re-
tion officials nationwide to tion Safety Board said in peated in the years since
examine more than 10,000 a report Thursday that even after inspectors said in
other bridges with similar drainage problems on the every report between 2011
construction to ensure they weathered steel bridge and 2021 that the drains