The AI Standards Hub recently held two workshops with UK and EU stakeholders as part of our project on the use of AI in recruitment and employment. Altogether, the two events brought together more than 40 participants representing a diverse range of organisations, including trade unions, advocacy groups, government bodies, academic institutions, consultancies, industry associations, and standards bodies.

Workshop 1: Exploring UK stakeholders’ perspectives and priorities

First workshop, 23rd February 2024

Participants at our first, UK-focused, workshop were able to hear presentations from a range of experts who have, recently, either conducted research or developed best practice guidance on the use of AI in employment:

• Kate Bell, Assistant General Secretary at the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and co-chair of the TUC’s AI taskforce, presented on a draft AI and Employment Bill the taskforce is set to publish later this month.
• Patrick Briône, Employment Law & Policy Specialist at the House of Commons Library, shared findings from a recent research report he co-authored, which surveys the UK legislative landscape and considers the applicability of UK laws to AI-specific human rights concerns in the workplace.
• Rob Bancroft, Policy Principal, AI & Digital at the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), shared information about recent and forthcoming EHRC work on this topic, including a report on the future of work and a response to an inquiry from the UK Joint Commission on Human Rights on human rights in the workplace.
• Adam Leon Smith, CTO at Dragonfly, Chair of the British Computer Society Technical Fellows Group, and UK standardisation delegate in the AI standards committee at both ISO/IEC and CEN-CENELEC, provided an overview of the AI standardisation landscape to set the stage for later discussions.
• Nuala Polo, Senior Policy Advisor at the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT), and Dom Richmond, Policy Advisor at DSIT, presented on the Responsible Technology Adoption Unit (RTA)’s guidance on the role of AI assurance in supporting trustworthy AI in recruitment. This guidance has recently been published.
• Dr Abby Gilbert, Co-Director of the Institute for the Future of Work (IFOW), presented on IFOW’s recently published Good Work Algorithmic Impact Assessment, which provides guidance for employers and developers to incorporate workers’ voices and perspectives in the design, development, and deployment of algorithmic systems used in the workplace.

Towards responsible governance of the use of AI in recruitment and employment: Engaging UK and EU stakeholders

Second workshop; 14th March 2024

Findings from our first workshop were brought to the second session, which convened participants from the UK and the EU to begin identifying priorities and areas for cross-jurisdictional engagement. Many individuals who attend the first workshop joined for a second time around to be able to exchange views with EU participants representing a range of stakeholder groups and countries. The following experts provided remarks to set the stage for discussions about the EU legal, regulatory, and standards setting landscape: 

• Dr Six Silberman, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Oxford University Bonavero Institute for Human Rights, shared reflections on the GDPR – and associated enforcement challenges – along with the EU Platform Work Directive, which was recently provisionally agreed.
• Dr Wilson Wong, a BSI HCS1 expert who leads the strategic business plan group at ISO/TC260 (HRM standards), and Harald Ackerschott, DIN recruiting and assessment expert and convenor of Working Group 5 “Recruiting“ in ISO Technical Committee 260 (HRM Standards), who was responsible for the latest revisions of recruiting and assessment standards ISO 30405 and ISO 10667, provided remarks on the scope and coverage of human resource/capital management (HRM/HCM) standards and the work of the TC260 committee.
• Adam Leon Smith joined us again to provide an overview of AI standardisation, this time with additional emphasis on the context of the EU AI Act.

Insights and next steps 

In a future blog, we will go into some more depth in synthesising insights from the two workshops, with a focus on showing how our speakers’ and participants’ valuable contributions helped us to shape certain aspects of our research approach.