Bloomberg Law reported earlier today that the Equal Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) reached a settlement for $365,000 with iTutorGroup, Inc. after the federal agency filed a complaint against the employer alleging that its artificial intelligence (“AI”) software automatically rejected female tutor applicants over 55 and male tutor applicants over 60.
According to the complaint, the age exclusion was discovered when a rejected applicant submitted a new identical application with a more recent birth date. The EEOC claimed over two hundred applicants were adversely affected.
Although this is not a California complaint/settlement, this is the first AI case settlement we are aware of. The case and settlement illustrate that the EEOC is willing to aggressively prosecute cases in the AI area as part of its Artificial Intelligence and Algorithmic Fairness Initiative. This settlement should not be ignored by the employer community and it further emphasizes the need for California employers who use artificial intelligence for recruiting/screening to: