EEOC's Draft Enforcement Plan Prioritizes Technology-Related Employment Discrimination

Bias—especially pernicious bias against historically disadvantaged groups—is among the major risks posed by the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). Indeed, algorithmic discrimination has attracted substantial attention from US federal, state, and local policymakers, and regulators are beginning to crack down.

On January 10, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) published for public comment a draft Strategic Enforcement Plan (SEP) for 2023–2027. The SEP aims to "focus and coordinate the agency's work" over a multi-year period to produce "a sustained impact in advancing equal employment opportunity." The draft SEP is the EEOC's first to address the use of automated systems for hiring, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, and proposes to focus on how those systems may be used to "intentionally exclude or adversely impact protected groups."