New guidelines can help HR remain compliant

The Singapore government is launching a new council to advise on the ethical and responsible use of AI and data

BY Nurhuda Syed 08 Jun 2018

The Singapore government is launching a new council to advise on the ethical use of AI and data. Other initiatives will also be developed to provide guidelines on the responsible development and adoption of AI.

Announced earlier this week by minister for communications and information S Iswaran, they aim to help users navigate the AI and data ecosystem with ease.

The initiatives are well-timed as the HR sector embarks on its transformation journey, embracing tech such as AI and data analytics to automate its processes.

As Stephanie Nash, chief people officer at RedMart, a Singapore-based e-commerce firm puts it, “there is no shortage of information and access to data” now and HR “gets a lot of data from our people and candidates” for example through job applications or internal surveys.

The influx of data will thus have serious implications for HR in terms of compliance to local Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) and international laws such as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which was implemented on 25 May.

As a start, the government proposed the following initiatives:

Set up an advisory council on the ethical use of AI and data
A research programme on the governance of AI and data use
A discussion paper released by the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) on responsible development and adoption of AI, which will be used by the council for its guidelines