HR Tech lessons #2 - A new fear of AI/machine learning

I, like a number of HR industry analysts, have been uncomfortable about some of the uses of algorithms, artificial intelligence, machine learning and other technologies that have been exploding on the HR scene in recent years. The single greatest concern is that individuals who have no training in statistics, correlation/causation distinctions, legal risk associated with machine generated recommendations, etc. might use these new technologies and expose their company to great risk and/or adversely impact the livelihoods of many innocent potential workers. In a nutshell, many of the new, cool, supercharged recruiting solutions can quickly and mechanically identify other potential job seekers with similar characteristics to current employee groups that have shown some measure of success or retention with the company. While on its surface that sounds admirable and cost-effective, the problem with these tools is that they rely on a test database which only includes existing employees. If a company has failed to hire many women or minorities in the past, then very few of them will appear in the solution's data population and thus will generate a statistically insignificant subset of individuals to establish a meaningful pattern.