The “No Robot Bosses Act of 2023” would prevent employers from relying solely on AI in hiring. Meanwhile, the Biden Administration announced a voluntary agreement with seven large firms for the safe, secure and transparent implementation of AI.
Separately, media reports say Twitter is preparing a jobs listing service.
Also in today’s Tech Roundup: A construction platform aimed at candidate discovery announced an $8.5 million funding round, and skills assessment platform TrueAbility has been acquired.
No Robot Bosses
A bill introduced in the US Senate, the “No Robot Bosses Act of 2023,” would prohibit employers from relying exclusively on an automated decision system when making an employment-related decision.
“Right now, there is nothing stopping a corporation from using artificial intelligence to hire, manage or even fire workers without the involvement of a human being,” US Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pennsylvania, said in a press release. “As robot bosses become more prevalent in the workplace, we have an obligation to protect working families from the dangers of employers misusing and abusing these novel technologies.”
Casey and Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, introduced the bill Thursday.
The bill comes amid other regulations aimed at AI, including a law in New York City.
Casey and Schatz’s bill would also require:
- Periodic testing of automated decision systems for issues such as discrimination and bias if such systems are used in employment-related decisions.
- Training on proper use of such systems.
- Human oversight of automated decision systems.
- Timely disclosures on use of these systems, their data inputs and employee rights related to decisions by the systems.
In addition, the bill would establish a Technology and Worker Protection Division at the US Department of labor to regulate the use of automated decision systems.
The senators pointed to concerns such as machine learning algorithms automatically rejecting applicants when they see an employment gap, automated scheduling software frequently adding or removing shifts for service optimization and individuals such as drivers being fired based on tracking algorithms.
In addition to Casey and Schatz, the bill is cosponsored by US Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania, and Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont.
White House
The White House announced today it received voluntary commitments from seven AI companies to help move toward safe, secure and transparent development of technology. The companies include Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft and Open AI, the maker of ChatGPT.
Commitments from the companies include ensuring their products are safe before introducing them to the public and putting security first. The companies also committed to publicly reporting their AI systems’ capabilities, limitations and areas of appropriate and inappropriate use. In addition, they committed to prioritizing research on societal risks that AI systems can pose, including harmful bias and discrimination.
Twitter jobs
Twitter is getting ready to release a jobs listings feature for verified organizations, according to media reports in TechCrunch and elsewhere. Twitter has not officially announced the feature, but it has created an official @TwitterHiring account. Some organizations have also been able to post job listings under their Twitter bios on their profiles.
The reports follow Twitter’s acquisition in May of San Francisco-based job-matching tech startup Laskie; however, Laskie’s website says the platform is no longer available.
Skillit funding round
Skillit, a candidate matching platform focused on filling skilled trades roles in construction, announced an $8.5 million funding round. This brings total funding at Skillit to $13.6 million.
“With growing customer demand and considerable inbound interest from new investors following the announcement of our seed round in January, we decided that now is the right time to take on more capital to further accelerate our growth,” Skillit CEO and founder Fraser Patterson said in a press release.
The round was led by MetaProp and Bow Capital with participation from existing investor Building Ventures.
Skillit is based in New York.
TrueAbility acquisition
Aluminum, Inc., a Japan-based private equity firm, acquired TrueAbility, a skills assessment platform based in San Antonio.
“This strategic acquisition not only strengthens our position in the SaaS industry but also opens up new avenues for growth and innovation,” Aluminum CEO John Cross said in a press release.
Founded in 2012, TrueAbility provides solutions to measure and evaluate technical skills across various industries and organizations seeking talent assessment of digital skills.