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Helena Almeida, Vice President, Managing Counsel, ADP.
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HELENA: If you're going to adopt AI into your workforce, we want it to be successful, and it's really important that people trust new technology, or they're not going to want to use it.
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Text: ADP Workforce Newsroom Spotlight. A dark blue globe spins in the background.
Text: AI at work: Designing a responsible path to innovation.
Red lines form the outline of a computer above the text. An orange lock is in the middle of the computer screen. Ashley Avanzato, Vice President Human Resources, ADP.
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ASHELY: Today, the spotlight on artificial intelligence at work is burning brighter than ever. As organizations increasingly incorporate AI-driven technology, many are looking for guidance to ensure they're using these enhanced tools responsibly. My guests today have collaborated to create a guiding framework to help employers optimize these new tools while still protecting people. In just a moment, we'll hear from vice president of US policy for the Future of Privacy Forum, Amie Stepanovich. But first, with me in the newsroom, ADP vice president, managing counsel, Helena Almeida. Helena, thank you for joining us today.
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Ashley and Helena are seated facing each other.
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HELENA: Happy to be here, Ashley.
ASHLEY: I'm really excited to talk to you about this because I know that you have been a leading voice in the very early conversations around incorporating AI in the workplace. How has the conversation evolved over this past year with generative AI, and why is it gaining so much attention?
HELANA: Yeah, so, I mean, ADP has been using artificial intelligence and machine learning in our products for years. We use it to pair up our data with the ability to provide predictions, analysis, focus, and tools to our clients and their employees to help them succeed. Generative AI ups the ante on all of that. With the power of generative AI, we can do those things-- we can offer predictions, employee self-service, analysis, have it be easier, faster, more intuitive, smarter. So these are all things that we're really looking forward to helping our clients incorporate it into their workflows and hopefully help them succeed.
ASHLEY: Together, you collaborated to create a best practice guide for AI in the workplace. And with that, I am pleased to welcome to this conversation the Forum's US policy lead, Amie Stepanovich.
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Amie Stepanovich, Vice President of U.S. Policy Future of Privacy Forum. Amie joins the interview via video call.
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ASHLEY: Amie, thanks for joining us. Please tell us what led to the development of this best practice guide in the Forum introduced in September.
AMIE: Well, first, thank you so much for having me here with you. I'm really excited to be able to share a little bit about FPF's work. I think there were two motivating factors-- big shifts in adoption within the workforce and a huge not only demand but a greater number of organizations trying to supply those tools, as well as huge shifts in the legislative and regulatory sectors and changes that are going to impact how those tools can and will be used.
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Ashley smiles and nods.
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AMIE: So the best practices were attempting to-- and I believe we were successful in this-- provide a baseline of analysis from which organizations who are trying to do the right thing can make decisions, even if what those decisions should be aren't always going to be clear. So leading companies who can comply with FPF's best practices today and the best practices we were able to develop with ADP and with other companies can show just how well-placed they are in the sector and communicate that to potential clients and potential folks who are able to implement their tools and technologies.
But I think the FPF document, to my knowledge, contributes in a huge way because it's the only one that was developed with the involvement of the private sector. So not only ADP but LinkedIn, Indeed, Workday all work together in collaboration to help us put together these best practices, along with extensive consultations with academic and technical experts, civil society, and with regulators.
ASHLEY: Honestly, I think in looking at how AI is working, it sounds like some of our best and brightest around the industry are coming together and are focused on this because they know the importance of it. So I think it's great to hear all the partnerships and continued collaboration that the two of you have had and having this come together.
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Ashley turns her attention back to Helena.
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ASHLEY: The use of AI at work has its own unique challenges and issues, as we know. Helena, if you could for me, can we talk through a little bit on how these guidelines are specific to the HCM industry and not other industries that are also embarking on their own AI journey?
HELENA: What I think we all realize is that these key decisions that happen in the workplace-- and we're talking about things like whether you're going to get a job, whether you're going to get a promotion, how much are you going to be paid, are you going to be terminated-- these are massively important decisions to actual human beings, right?
ASHLEY: Sensitive.
HELENA: They're sensitive issues. They're important. They're potentially life-changing. And we all work in this space. And we wanted to make sure that these best practices really focused on the unique attributes of data related to HCM and these key decisions. This is what's really important to us, and we're taking a stand on this now. While we all know legislation is coming, we want it to be out there now and help set the standard.
ASHLEY: I love that we're leading from the front. And in HR, we call those moments that matter because those are moments that matter to our associates. That's super important. Amie, if you can for me, for employers, what is the benefit of adopting these best practices now? What will they get out of it in the future if they go ahead and start from the ground up with these best practices?
AMIE: So I think there are a lot of reasons to be looking at this document really early, the biggest of which is legislation is coming. As I said previously, this is really a hot topic being discussed by regulators at every single level of government. We are going to see rules, laws, and likely enforcement actions in the coming months and years in this space.
And so for organizations looking to get out in front of what those rules are going to be, I think that you can make sure that you're not going to be implementing AI tools in a way that run counter not only to current law, especially law with bias and with discrimination, but also the laws that are coming that are going to be in place.
ASHLEY: Helena, I was wondering if you had any additional thoughts on the benefit of adopting best practices now and how that's going to help companies for the future.
HELENA: I mean, I think Amie nailed it. ADP has been using AI and machine learning for years. We've had our own ethical principles that have guided us. Yes, they are pointing to the direction the law is going, but they're also what can I do now to help me guide these decisions, which I think is super important.
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Text: For more, please visit FPF.org. Colorful dots dance across the middle of the screen as they gradually disappear. The ADP logo emerges in the wake of the dots. Text: Always Designing for People.
