2024年11月13日，新加坡人力部长陈诗龙医生在国会口头答复西海岸集选区议员郑德源、裕廊集选区议员陈有明、反对党领袖（阿裕尼集选区议员)毕丹星有关雇主使用AI进行招聘或晋升以防止偏见的政府指南。
以下内容为新加坡眼根据国会英文资料翻译整理：
郑德源（西海岸集选区议员）询问人力部长：人力部是否会考虑制定关于雇主使用自动化就业决策工具（AEDT）的指南或法规？这些工具属于人工智能技术，在招聘或晋升决策中起到重大辅助或替代自主决策的作用。为防止偏见，该部是否会引入相关措施，例如要求公司进行偏见审查，或在使用此类工具对候选人排名或评估员工晋升时作出披露？
陈诗龙医生（人力部长）：议长先生，无论雇主使用何种技术工具来辅助招聘或晋升等就业决策，他们都必须遵守《三方公平就业实践指南》，该指南旨在促进公平和以能力为本的就业实践。
如果某些人工智能（AI）应用导致了就业歧视，员工或求职者可以向劳资政公平与良好雇佣联盟（TAFEP）寻求帮助。TAFEP将与雇主合作，解决员工或求职者的申诉，并确保雇主的招聘或绩效评估流程符合公平就业原则。截至目前，TAFEP尚未收到因AI工具使用而导致歧视的投诉。
此外，我要提醒大家，人工智能技术正快速发展。在部署AI驱动的人力资源（HR）工具时，组织应参考政府制定的指导方针，以支持AI的负责任发展与应用。政府将继续密切关注AI应用趋势，并与三方伙伴、人力资源专业人士协会（IHRP）及更广泛的HR社群合作，定期评估现有的指南和法规是否足够完善。
郑德源（西海岸集选区议员）：议长先生，我感谢部长的答复。我有一个补充问题，关于如何更好地保护员工在AI系统被用于HR流程时的数据隐私。
我很高兴部长已经提出《职场公平法案》，并采取了一些措施和三方建议。但我们是否可以确保，在AI驱动的决策（包括招聘、晋升、再就业和裁员）中，雇主在使用员工数据之前必须获得员工的同意？
陈诗龙医生（人力部长）：我感谢议员的补充问题。我们当然会继续改进相关流程，并加强规范。
正如我之前所提到的，AI的应用及各种工具的使用正在快速推进。如果对法规制定得过于严格和具体，不仅不切实际，也很难在当前AI行业快速演变的情况下完全跟上其发展步伐。
目前，最合理的方式是确保AI的负责任使用。政府已推出《AI治理模式框架》，其中一个具体例子是AI Verify，这是由资讯通信媒体发展局（IMDA）开发的工具包。考虑到本次讨论的时间限制，我不会详细介绍AI Verify的运作，但如果在未来的国会会议上有相关提问，我愿意进一步讲解。
至于企业使用的数据，确保个人信息匿名化至关重要。当然，获得员工的同意也是我们正在关注的事项之一。我希望这能让议员放心，我们正在尽最大努力确保监管到位。
陈有明医生（裕廊集选区议员）：请问部长，在目前TAFEP处理的不公平就业案例中，大致有多少案件是基于招聘经理或公司管理层的主观意图来裁定的？因为在AI招聘中，很难像对待人类决策者那样，通过审讯或交叉质询来确认其决策意图。
陈诗龙医生（人力部长）：感谢议员的提问。正如我所说，我们正处于AI转型和应用的关键阶段。当前，有人甚至可以用ChatGPT来起草法律诉讼文件，这说明AI技术的影响力正在迅速扩大。
因此，我们必须与员工及求职者紧密合作，让他们在认为受到不公平对待时及时举报，以便我们调查具体情况。有时，问题可能不是出于主观意图，而是由于企业使用的数据集本身存在偏见，导致AI算法在招聘或晋升决策中倾向于特定特征。
我们需要持续保持警惕，并鼓励所有利益相关方共同参与监管。这包括政府机构、IHRP、工会以及三方合作伙伴。通过这些努力，我们可以确保职场公平，让所有人受益。
毕丹星先生（阿裕尼集选区议员）：部长提到AI的应用，但从员工的角度来看，他们往往处于信息劣势，无法得知雇主的AI系统在后台进行的筛选和预选。
鉴于这种权力和信息不对等的情况，部长认为人力部会采取哪些新措施，鼓励员工向TAFEP或相关机构举报AI决策带来的不公平现象？
陈诗龙医生（人力部长）：感谢反对党领袖的提问。我认为需要意识到，在当前的就业市场环境下，员工在选择雇主方面也具备一定优势，尤其是在劳动市场紧张的情况下。因此，关键在于如何实现良好的平衡，平衡负责任的员工（他们构成了我们劳动力的绝大多数）与负责任的雇主（他们也构成了我们整个就业生态系统的绝大多数），并通过三方合作框架下共同维持一个公平的职场环境。
为了实现这一点，我们与新加坡全国雇主联合会（SNEF）、劳工运动以及其他机构合作，确保就业环境的公平性。当然，我们不能掉以轻心，必须持续推动三方合作，与各商会共同努力。
我也要向反对党领袖保证，我们对每一份投诉和举报都会迅速、公正地处理。同时，我们正在建立一个数据库，记录不同类型的投诉，以帮助我们更精准地保护员工权益，并在确保雇主合理运营的同时，维护职场公平性。
以下是英文质询内容：
Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan asked the Minister for Manpower whether the Ministry will consider introducing guidelines or regulations on employer’s use of Automated Employment Decision Tools (AEDT), which are artificial intelligence technologies that substantially assist or replace discretionary decision-making in hiring or promotions, in order to prevent biases and including measures such as requiring companies to conduct a bias audit or to make disclosure where such tools are used to rank candidates or assess employees for promotion.
The Minister for Manpower (Dr Tan See Leng): Mr Speaker, regardless of the technological tools used to aid employment decisions, such as hiring or promotions, employers must comply with the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices, which promotes fair and merit-based employment practices.
If certain artificial intelligence (AI) use results in discriminatory employment practices, workers or job applicants can approach the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) for assistance. TAFEP will work with the employer to address the grievances of the workers or job applicants and ensure that the employer’s recruitment or performance appraisal processes adhere to the principles of fair employment. To date, TAFEP has not received complaints of discrimination arising from the use of AI tools.
I would also like to caution that AI technologies are evolving at a fast pace. In deploying AI-powered human resources (HR) tools, organisations should refer to the guidelines introduced by the Government to support the responsible development and use of AI. The Government will continue to closely monitor the trends in AI adoption and work with our tripartite partners, the Institute for Human Resource Professionals (IHRP) and the broader HR community to regularly assess if existing guidelines and regulations are adequate.
Mr Speaker: Mr Tay.
Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan (Pioneer): Mr Speaker, I thank the Minister for his response. Just one supplementary question on how we can better protect workers’ data privacy when AI systems are used, especially in HR processes.
I am glad that the Minister has introduced the Workplace Fairness Bill as well as some of the measures and Tripartite Advisories, but can we ensure that workers’ consent is obtained before their data is used for AI-driven decisions, including promotions, hiring, re-employment and layoffs?
Dr Tan See Leng: I thank the Member for his supplementary question. We certainly will take the Member’s suggestion to continue to improve the processes and to tighten it.
As I have shared earlier on, the adoption of AI, the use of the multiple tools is proceeding at a fairly rapid pace. To be overly prescriptive, to be overly tight in terms of our regulations, I think it would not just be not practical, but I do not think at this particular point in time, given the stage of evolution of the entire AI industry, we can really catch up with them adequately.
I think the best, nuanced approach is to continue to maintain clear responsible use of AI, which the Government has actually introduced in the form of a model AI governance framework. And one particular example is AI Verify. I think for the purpose of the brevity of this discussion, I do not want to go into too much discussion on that part of it. This is a toolkit, which is developed by IMDA. I am happy to walk the Members of the House through at subsequent Parliamentary Sittings if there is another Parliamentary Question filed on that, to talk about how we can use that.
