We asked a labor attorney how to best use generative AI in HR

The generative AI train has left the station. HR pros must be equipped with the skills and confidence to navigate these tools as more companies deploy the tech at work.

“What we know is 99% of the Fortune 500 are absolutely using artificial intelligence in various aspects,” labor attorney Natalie Pierce told HR Brew. “Everything from hiring to promotion to predicting who might be the employees who are looking to make a move.”

Pierce is a partner with Gunderson Dettmer, specializing in employment and labor law. Over the last several years, she has taken a keen interest in technology and the future of work.

“I think especially smaller employers are nervous about using the [generative AI] tools because they’re not sure how they can do it without running afoul of the legal landscape,” she said.

SMB people pros and mighty HR-teams-of-one, we want to help quell those nerves. We asked Piece to help us understand how to best ask generative AI questions while minimizing risks. Here are four tips from a Gunderson Dettmer AI webinar Pierce co-hosted:

1. Use neutral prompts. If you’re asking generative AI for help, be sure to avoid words that would indicate some sort of a preference. If employing gen AI to help write a job description, for example, don’t say you’re looking for someone to join your “young and dynamic team,” Pierce said, because that could indicate age bias.
2. Prompt generative AI to perform blind assessments. The AI can help you assess candidates for job openings, but prompt it to avoid considering protected classes like gender, race, and age, and focus instead on skills, attributes, or experiences.
3. Ask open-ended questions. By broadening your prompts, you can avoid leading the tool to delivering responses that confirm bias.
4. Tell generative AI to identify and avoid bias. You can ask. Pierce pointed to research suggesting telling the LLMs to avoid bias in their responses can help mitigate it.

Pierce agrees with HR experts on the importance of monitoring and overseeing all outputs where generative AI was used.

“It is all about human-machine teaming, so this concept of human resource professionals really using it to augment the skills they have and to do things that would otherwise take 12 to 15 hours a week.”