This article explores how artificial intelligence can both empower and disadvantage persons with disabilities in employment. It highlights the ILO Global Business and Disability Network’s efforts to promote responsible, inclusive AI that enhances accessibility while preventing bias and discrimination in the workplace.

https://www.ilo.org/resource/article/ais-double-edged-sword-new-frontier-employment-people-disabilities?ref=disabilitydebrief.org

Jürgen Menze

While the use of AI by individuals with disabilities, e.g. text-to-speech or real-time captioning, tends to be positive, institutional use of AI-powered human resources technology, e.g. filtering out persons with “non-standard” faces or speech patterns, tends to disadvantage and exclude job seekers and workers with disabilities. As a contribution to creating fair and efficient labour markets, AI developers and buyers of AI-powered employment tools need to address disability-based discrimination and its impacts on an organisation’s talent pool, workforce and customers. AI-related regulation needs to catch up on the existing disability equality gap and ensure AI tools are applied in a non-discriminatory way before they reach consumers, which includes both human resources departments of employers and consumers with disabilities. 

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