Over the past two years, the world has learned through a series of dramatic media revelations that harassment and discrimination reporting mechanisms are broken. #MeToo showed us that many women stay silent about workplace harassment – some for decades. #TimesUp highlighted the continued existence of pay gaps and bias. And it’s not just women who are hurting. People of colour, people who identify openly as LGBTQi, those who are disabled and many others are being disproportionately targeted and urgently need better ways to speak up.
In 2019 we will use AI to monitor what employees are doing, not just to detect fraud, but for signs of bias and discrimination, overcoming some of the biggest barriers to identifying and reporting harassment and discrimination.
Using natural language processing, AI will scan emails for inappropriate words and phrases and flag problem makers. To increase transparency in wages, AI will crunch data to identify trends in promotions and help to prevent wage gaps. Using voice recognition in meeting rooms, AI will identify who is speaking the most, helping us to allow voices to join the conversation that have been too often been silent, ignored or interrupted.
Together, these AI bias recognition tools will help us to know when we are squeezing out diverse people and diverse voices, even before we realise it ourselves.
Read more: False memories and false confessions: the psychology of imagined crimes
In 2019, AI will also allow employees to stay anonymous when reporting problems, ensuring that more people are able to raise issues without fear of retaliation from their employer. Online tools, in which employees are “interviewed” by AI chatbots rather than humans, will remove biases and enable employees to find help wherever and whenever they need it and in private – without the need to schedule meetings during HR office hours, or to call a stranger on a whistleblowing hotline.
My own company has developed an online tool that uses AI to help employees record and report inappropriate workplace behaviour and which allows employers to take action by providing a way to respond to complaints even if those making the reports have chosen to stay anonymous. Similar technology is being developed by other startups such as AllVoices, Vault, TextIQ and Callisto. The sector is growing rapidly and AI-driven reporting tools will soon become industry standards.
In 2019 we will understand that real diversity is about proving that a workplace is one where all kinds of people are going to be treated well. By removing biases and providing a safe way for employees to air grievances, AI will ensure that is a goal we achieve.
Julia Shaw is a researcher at the department of psychology at University College London and the co-founder of Spot
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
