Artificial intelligence has become an incredibly powerful tool in recent years and it is now being used in the workplace for enhanced performance and increased support with various tasks. There are both advantages and disadvantages for using AI tools at work, especially when it comes to helping or hindering employees with an intellectual or developmental disability. As artificial intelligence becomes integrated into recruiting and workplace tools, questions about bias, fairness, and accessible design are rising.
Although it offers a wide range of benefits and assistive technology for both workers with and without disabilities and aids in removing barriers, AI can also risk accessibility for individuals with disabilities if designed with unrepresentative data. This means AI could enhance already existing patterns of disability exclusion as high unemployment rates for people with disabilities means that they are still vastly underrepresented in employment.
What Can AI Do in the Workplace?
Over recent years, AI has developed into an essential tool for workers. From providing simple admin tasks to managing complex instructions, AI is used to make life easier for employees at work – if they are able to use it. While some AI systems are hugely beneficial for workers with disabilities, some AI tools may not be disability inclusive which can cause new barriers in the role. Here are some benefits of AI at work:
- Administration – from composing emails and managing calendars to summarizing meeting talking points and document handling, AI can make the time consuming jobs much easier.
- Data analysis – AI has the ability to process and analyse vast amounts of date quickly and effectively to produce vital results for companies including trends and strategic insights.
- Customer support – AI can be used to provide customer support in the form of chat bots and AI assistants to resolve or troubleshoot customer issues.
For workers with disabilities, AI can also provide visual, audio and mobility tools and aids to improve accessibility and create a personalized assistive working environment.
Advantages and Disadvantages of AI and Disability Inclusion in Hiring
AI in hiring does offer various benefits as well as problems for employers to consider. The advantages include:
- It can make recruitment more accessible which will increase the talent pool.
- AI can remove any biased language regarding gender and disability from applications to achieve a more diverse selection of applicants.
- AI can remove personal details including disability status and medical history to ensure applicants are evaluated on their qualifications.
However, if AI is trained without inclusive data, it can cause issues with hiring people with disabilities and remove qualified disabled applicants due to underrepresented training data. Additionally, some AI recruitment services are incompatible with accessibility features such as screen readers which prevent people with visual impairments from even being able to apply from the start.
Overall, AI has various pros and cons for use in disability inclusion and in the workplace. It is constantly evolving and with time and the appropriate training and investment, the disadvantages should gradually disappear.
Path-Now is an accessible platform that provides users with an extensive range of support and disability resources in California with connections to matched service providers.
