Legal FAQ in Hiring

Europe’s AI act is a comprehensive set of rules that govern the use of artificial intelligence (AI), including its application in the workplace and hiring practices. This AI Act is the first of its kind globally and aims to regulate the use of AI to ensure it is safe, transparent, traceable, non-discriminatory, and environmentally friendly.

The EU AI Act was provisionally passed and is expected to come into effect by 2026.

Based on the existing legislation and guidelines put forth, Hireguide currently complies with sections of the Act that mirror GDPR and CCPA requirements. However, similar to the NYC Local 144 Law, Hireguide does not currently use AI to assist or replace human decisions-making so certain elements will not apply.

As Hireguide does use AI for the purpose of training interviewers and generating interview questions, new elements of the law expected to apply to Hireguide include:
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‍Data Governance: Use of high-quality data for the training, validation, and testing of AI systems to ensure data accuracy, representativeness, and absence of biases.
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‍Transparency and Information to Users: Provide users with clear, understandable information about the AI system’s capabilities, its purpose, and the logic involved.
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‍Record-Keeping and Documentation: Adequate documentation and record-keeping including records of the system’s development process, datasets used, decision-making processes, and measures taken to ensure compliance with the Act.
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‍Compliance with Fundamental Rights: The AI system must be designed and used in a way that respects fundamental rights, such as non-discrimination, privacy, and data protection.

Understand the world's first comprehensive Al law

The basics

Definition of Al: aligned to the recently updated OECD definition
Extraterritorial: applies to organizations outside the EU
Exemptions: national security, military and defense; R&D; open source (partial)
Compliance grace periods of between 6-24 months
Risk-based: Prohibited Al >> High-Risk Al >> Limited Risk Al >> Minimal Risk Al
Extensive requirements for 'Providers' and Users' of High-Risk Al
Generative Al: Specific transparency and disclosure requirements

Prohibited AI

Social credit scoring systems
Emotion recognition systems at work and in education
Al used to exploit people's vulnerabilities (e.g., age, disability)
Behavioral manipulation and circumvention of free will
Untargeted scraping of facial images for facial recognition
Biometric categorization systems using sensitive characteristics
Specific predictive policing applications
Law enforcement use of real-time biometric identification in public (apart from in limited, pre authorized situations)

High-Risk AI

Medical devices
Vehicles
Recruitment, HR and worker management
Education and vocational training
Influencing elections and voters
Access to services (e.g., insurance, banking, credit, benefits etc.)‍
Critical infrastructure management (e.g., water, gas, electricity etc.)‍
Emotion recognition systems‍
Biometric identification
Law enforcement, border control, migration and asylum
Administration of justice
Specific products and/or safety components of specific products

Key requirements: High-Risk AI

Fundamental rights impact assessment and conformity assessment
Registration in public EU database for high-risk Al systems
Implement risk management and quality management system
Data governance (e.g., bias mitigation, representative training data etc.)
Transparency (e.g., Instructions for Use, technical documentation etc.)
Human oversight (e.g., explainability, auditable logs, human-in-the-loop etc.)
Accuracy, robustness and cyber security (e.g., testing and monitoring)

General Purpose AI

Distinct requirements for General Purpose Al (GPAI) and Foundation Models
Transparency for all GPAI (e.g., technical documentation, training data
summaries, copyright and IP safeguards etc.)‍
Additional requirements for high-impact models with systemic risk: model
evaluations, risk assessments, adversarial testing, incident reporting etc.‍
Generative Al: individuals must be informed when interacting with Al (e.g.,
chatbots); Al content must be labelled and detectable (e.g., deepfakes)

Penalties & Enforcement

Up to 7% of global annual turnover or €35m for prohibited Al violations
Up to 3% of global annual turnover or €15m for most other violations
Up to 1.5% of global annual turnover or €7.5m for supplying incorrect info
Caps on fines for SMEs and startups‍
European 'Al Office' and 'Al Board' established centrally at the EU level
Market surveillance authorities in EU countries to enforce the Al Act
Any individual can make complaints about non-compliance
Not yet enacted. Political agreement reached on 8 December

Not yet enacted. Political agreement reached on 8 December 2023.

Laws Governing Employment & Technology FAQ

NYC Local Law 144

California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)

Europe’s AI Act

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Laws Governing Employment & Technology FAQ

NYC Local Law 144

What is NYC Local Law 144 and how does it apply to Hireguide?

When did the NYC Local Law 144 take effect?

What is an AEDT (Automated Employment Decision Tool)?

Who does the NYC Local Law 144 apply to?

What do employers using AEDTs need to disclose to employees and candidates?

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

What is GDPR and how does it apply to Hireguide?

When did GDPR take effect?

Who does the GDPR apply to?

How does GDPR affect North American companies hiring?

California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)

What is the CCPA and how does it apply to Hireguide?

When did the CCPA take effect?

Are there similarities between GDPR and CCPA?

Who does the CCPA apply to?

How does the CCPA affect employers who are hiring?

Europe’s AI Act

What is Europe’s AI Act and how does it apply to Hireguide?

When does Europe’s AI Act take effect?

Who does Europe’s AI Act apply to?

What are the key aspects of Europe’s AI Act?

How does Europe’s AI Act affect employers who are hiring?

See the EU AI Act Cheat Sheet

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