What’s on the Horizon? How Artificial Intelligence Can Enhance Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Initiatives in the U.S. and Canada — The Institutional Diversity Blog

AI and its technologies can be powerful tools for advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) initiatives in the United States and Canada.  Before we move into that discussion, let’s start with some basic definitions:  In a nutshell, “Artificial Intelligence” (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines and systems that are programmed to think and learn like humans.  AI technologies are designed to simulate human cognitive processes, allowing them to learn from experience and adapt to new information.  Essentially, AI systems learn from data, then apply this knowledge to make predictions, solve problems, or perform tasks, all without being explicitly programmed for each specific scenario (i.e. “intelligent”). [See Part 1: 7 Questions You Have About Artificial Intelligence (But Are Afraid To Ask)]

For the purposes of our discussion, we’re defining Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion using similar definitions from Our Glossary, where “Equity” refers to fairness and justice in the way people are treated with an intentional commitment to addressing systemic barriers; “Diversity” encompasses the range of individual and group/social differences; and “Inclusion” includes creating environments where all individuals feel welcomed, respected, supported, and valued while being able to fully participate in an organization or activity.

By leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities, organizations in the United States and Canada can create more inclusive environments, promote diversity at all levels, and work towards greater equity.  Here are six (6) key ways AI can be leveraged to promote EDI:

1. Promoting Accessibility and Inclusion

AI technologies can break down barriers for underserved populations by synthesizing and analyzing information to bridge knowledge and skills gaps.  It can also be used to develop AI-powered assistive technologies for individuals with disabilities like text-to-speech/image to texts functions and generating audio descriptions of visual content.

2. Improving Inclusive Communication

Artificial Intelligence can be used to assist in creating more inclusive organizational communication through auditing corporate communications through an EDI lens to check for concerns and fine-tune messaging in a way that helps organizations keep pace with evolving inclusive language and cultural contexts.  Another way that AI can improve communications is by providing real-time translation services to bridge language barriers in multinational organizations.

3. Enhancing Data Analysis and Reporting

AI-powered analytics can provide deeper insights into organizations by analyzing EDI data such as tracking diversity metrics in real-time to identify disparities in representation, pay equity, and advancement opportunities.  Also, predictive analytics can be used in demography (the study of human populations) to forecast future diversity trends, thus enabling proactive measures to address them.

4. Reducing Bias in Recruitment and Hiring

Another way Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be used to promote EDI is in helping create more equitable hiring processes by reducing bias in recruitment efforts through anonymizing candidate data to remove identifiers like names, gender, or demographic details, thus allowing hiring managers to focus solely on qualifications.  AI tools can also be used to evaluate job descriptions to identify and eliminate biased language, ensuring they appeal to a diverse candidate pool.  Additionally, artificial intelligence can be utilized to enhance the candidate selection process by providing data-driven insights to personalize interview questions for better alignment with job requirements.

5. Personalizing Employee Experience

Chief Diversity Officers (CDOs) can use AI to tailor employee experiences to their individual needs by offering personalized learning and development opportunities for employees from diverse backgrounds, and creating highly personalized engagement strategies that go beyond broad demographic segmentation (i.e. employee resource groups).  In addition to these efforts, AI tools can be used to monitor employee sentiment and performance to guide management to better ways of serving underrepresented, marginalized, and diverse staff groups.

6. Addressing Unconscious Bias

AI can help identify and mitigate unconscious biases by providing targeted training programs to address identified biases and offering AI-powered simulations for management training on interacting with a diverse workforce.  Because there are many different types of unconscious biases (i.e. performance bias, confirmation bias, etc.), artificial intelligence tools can also analyze performance reviews and feedback to detect potential biases in evaluations that can later be addressed via unconscious bias training and other developmental opportunities that make employees aware of their biases and provide them with strategies to mitigate them.

When used responsibly, AI has the potential to significantly advance EDI initiatives and contribute to creating a more equitable society.  However, it’s crucial to implement Artificial Intelligence systems thoughtfully, to ensure that they are designed with equity, diversity, and inclusion from the start.  In Part 3 of this discussion, we explore: “The Dark Side of AI: How Artificial Intelligence Could Undermine Diversity and Inclusion Efforts” (“P.A.I.D. in Bias: The Perilous Algorithm of Inequality and Discrimination in AI”) and critical considerations that are necessary as AI is deployed into the field of EDI.

Comment below (or message me on LinkedIn after connecting).

By Kindra Cotton of SSS for Success / Simplified Cybersecurity Solutions*

*Simplified Cybersecurity Solutions is a joint venture from SSS for Success (Simplified Social Media Solutions).