Ethical Concerns of Utilizing AI in Training and Development

Abstract: Artificial intelligence (AI) has shown supreme capabilities in its applications in many human resources (HR) related areas and activities, including training and development (T&D). Scholars and practitioners have conceptually discussed the benefits of utilizing AI in T&D, such as providing personalized, customized, and constantly updated training (Maity, 2019; Upadhyay & Khandelwal, 2019). While appreciating the merits of AI, many potential ethical challenges are pointed out by the current AI literature, such as data ethics (i.e., transparency), privacy, copyright, decision-making bias, and security (Noe & Kodwani, 2018; Upadhyay & Khandelwal, 2019). Given that the possible risks and harms brought by unethical AI applications in T&D might offset the expected benefits, it is of paramount importance to explore the ethical aspect of adopting AI in HRD functions and activities while promoting its usage. (Kazim & Koshiyama, 2021). However, the ethical issues of using AI in T&D activities have not been adequately addressed in the literature. Additionally, practitioners sometimes either overlook ethical issues or fail to follow ethical guidelines which may result in irreversible damage to organizations (Hagendorff, 2020). Therefore, it is a must to raise awareness of and provide guidelines for practicing ethical AI in T&D.