Oral Answer to PQ on Guidelines on Employer's use of Artificial Intelligence in Hiring or Promotions

NOTICE PAPER NO. 3189 OF 2024 ON 11 NOVEMBER 2024
QUESTION NO. 6765 FOR ORAL ANSWER

MP: Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan

To ask the Minister for Manpower whether the Ministry will consider introducing guidelines or regulations on employer's use of Automated Employment Decision Tools (AEDT), which are artificial intelligence technologies that substantially assist or replace discretionary decision-making in hiring or promotions, in order to prevent biases and including measures such as requiring companies to conduct a bias audit or to make disclosure where such tools are used to rank candidates or assess employees for promotion.

Answer:

1.Regardless of the technological tools used to aid employment decisions, such as hiring or promotions, employers must comply with the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices, which promotes fair and merit-based employment practices. If certain AI use results in discriminatory employment practices, workers or job applicants can approach the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) for assistance. TAFEP will work with the employer to address the grievances of the workers or job applicants and ensure that the employer’s recruitment or performance appraisal processes adhere to the principles of fair employment. To date, TAFEP has not received complaints of discrimination arising from the use of AI tools.

2.AI technologies are evolving at a fast pace. In deploying AI-powered HR tools, organisations should refer to the guidelines introduced by the Government to support responsible development and use of AI. The Government will continue to closely monitor the trends in AI adoption and work with our tripartite partners, the Institute for Human Resource Professionals (IHRP) and broader HR community to regularly assess if existing guidelines and regulations are adequate.