On March 13, 2024, the European Parliament approved the EU AI Act, which will provide a comprehensive set of requirements grounded in responsible AI principles and risk-based obligations regarding uses of AI. This vote by the European Parliament moves this important act one more significant step closer to becoming law. The act is anticipated to go into effect in the coming months and, for many AI systems used in HR, the act will apply 24 months later.
At Eightfold, we welcome this development, and view it as an opportunity to advance the conversation around artificial intelligence and its place in our society.
Eightfold is an AI-native company, founded in 2016. Our founding team and their core staff possess decades (each) of established AI development experience, complete with patents, education, and real-world operating experiences in Silicon Valley. These experiences, and our belief in more equitable HR, built the foundation of responsible AI practices at Eightfold, including the promotion of fairness, data quality and governance, transparency and explainability, human oversight and control, and continuous AI model monitoring and evaluation principles.
Eightfold has applied responsible AI principles to the development and deployment of its AI systems since the founding of our company. Responsible AI has always been a point of pride for us, and is more relevant than ever now. AI is here to stay: it offers speed, insights and efficiency on an unprecedented scale. And it offers greater fairness and objectivity when done well. We see a new wave of technology vendors who have developed or begun to offer AI capabilities just recently. Our perspective is that this is a space where care matters. Our history of innovation and leadership in responsible AI serves as a differentiator when organizations choose to work with Eightfold. We believe thoughtful regulation and innovation are complementary.
Our team works with an independent bias auditor, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and dedicates significant resources towards ensuring that we are transparent in our responsible AI practices, and we partner with our customers to use AI for good to help people deliver better experiences in hiring and employment. Our AI Ethics Council provides guidance on new products and capabilities. Our cross-functional teams, including legal/compliance, engineering, product, economic/market insights, HR leaders and myself included, underlie our AI development and update processes. These are just some concrete illustrations of the steps we have taken that differentiate Eightfold in the talent intelligence arena.
In the talent space, which is so intertwined with careers, supporting families, and day-to-day socio-economic impact, we are deeply aware of the implications of these advancements. A foundation of agreed-upon international and national guidelines is essential. Eightfold AI is happy to assist all its customers and interested organizations in learning more about this exciting space as it continues to evolve.