2024年11月13日，新加坡人力部長陳詩龍醫生在國會口頭答覆西海岸集 選區議員鄭德源、裕廊集選區議員陳有明、反對黨領袖 （阿裕尼集選區議員) 畢丹星 有關僱主使用AI進行招聘或晉升以防止偏見的政府指南。
以下內容為新加坡眼根據國會英文資料翻譯整理：
鄭德源（西海岸集選區議員）詢問人力部長：人力部是否會考慮制定關於僱主使用自動化就業決策工具（AEDT）的指南或法規？這些工具屬於人工智慧技術，在招聘或晉升決策中起到重大輔助或替代自主決策的作用。為防止偏見，該部是否會引入相關措施，例如要求公司進行偏見審查，或在使用此類工具對候選人排名或評估員工晉升時作出披露？
陳詩龍醫生（人力部長）：議長先生，無論僱主使用何種技術工具來輔助招聘或晉升等就業決策，他們都必須遵守《三方公平就業實踐指南》，該指南旨在促進公平和以能力為本的就業實踐。
如果某些人工智慧（AI）應用導致了就業歧視，員工或求職者可以向勞資政公平與良好僱傭聯盟（TAFEP）尋求幫助。TAFEP將與僱主合作，解決員工或求職者的申訴，並確保僱主的招聘或績效評估流程符合公平就業原則。截至目前，TAFEP尚未收到因AI工具使用而導致歧視的投訴。
此外，我要提醒大家，人工智慧技術正快速發展。在部署AI驅動的人力資源（HR）工具時，組織應參考政府制定的指導方針，以支持AI的負責任發展與應用。政府將繼續密切關注AI應用趨勢，並與三方夥伴、人力資源專業人士協會（IHRP）及更廣泛的HR社群合作，定期評估現有的指南和法規是否足夠完善。
鄭德源（西海岸集選區議員）：議長先生，我感謝部長的答覆。我有一個補充問題，關於如何更好地保護員工在AI系統被用於HR流程時的數據隱私。
我很高興部長已經提出《職場公平法案》，並採取了一些措施和三方建議。但我們是否可以確保，在AI驅動的決策（包括招聘、晉升、再就業和裁員）中，僱主在使用員工數據之前必須獲得員工的同意？
陳詩龍醫生（人力部長）：我感謝議員的補充問題。我們當然會繼續改進相關流程，並加強規範。
正如我之前所提到的，AI的應用及各種工具的使用正在快速推進。如果對法規制定得過於嚴格和具體，不僅不切實際，也很難在當前AI行業快速演變的情況下完全跟上其發展步伐。
目前，最合理的方式是確保AI的負責任使用。政府已推出《AI治理模式框架》，其中一個具體例子是AI Verify，這是由資訊通信媒體發展局（IMDA）開發的工具包。考慮到本次討論的時間限制，我不會詳細介紹AI Verify的運作，但如果在未來的國會會議上有相關提問，我願意進一步講解。
至於企業使用的數據，確保個人信息匿名化至關重要。當然，獲得員工的同意也是我們正在關注的事項之一。我希望這能讓議員放心，我們正在盡最大努力確保監管到位。
陳有明醫生（裕廊集選區議員）：請問部長，在目前TAFEP處理的不公平就業案例中，大致有多少案件是基於招聘經理或公司管理層的主觀意圖來裁定的？因為在AI招聘中，很難像對待人類決策者那樣，通過審訊或交叉質詢來確認其決策意圖。
陳詩龍醫生（人力部長）：感謝議員的提問。正如我所說，我們正處於AI轉型和應用的關鍵階段。當前，有人甚至可以用ChatGPT來起草法律訴訟文件，這說明AI技術的影響力正在迅速擴大。
因此，我們必須與員工及求職者緊密合作，讓他們在認為受到不公平對待時及時舉報，以便我們調查具體情況。有時，問題可能不是出於主觀意圖，而是由於企業使用的數據集本身存在偏見，導致AI算法在招聘或晉升決策中傾向於特定特徵。
我們需要持續保持警惕，並鼓勵所有利益相關方共同參與監管。這包括政府機構、IHRP、工會以及三方合作夥伴。通過這些努力，我們可以確保職場公平，讓所有人受益。
畢丹星先生（阿裕尼集選區議員）：部長提到AI的應用，但從員工的角度來看，他們往往處於信息劣勢，無法得知僱主的AI系統在後台進行的篩選和預選。
鑒於這種權力和信息不對等的情況，部長認為人力部會採取哪些新措施，鼓勵員工向TAFEP或相關機構舉報AI決策帶來的不公平現象？
陳詩龍醫生（人力部長）：感謝反對黨領袖的提問。我認為需要意識到，在當前的就業市場環境下，員工在選擇僱主方面也具備一定優勢，尤其是在勞動市場緊張的情況下。因此，關鍵在於如何實現良好的平衡，平衡負責任的員工（他們構成了我們勞動力的絕大多數）與負責任的僱主（他們也構成了我們整個就業生態系統的絕大多數），並通過三方合作框架下共同維持一個公平的職場環境。
為了實現這一點，我們與新加坡全國僱主聯合會（SNEF）、勞工運動以及其他機構合作，確保就業環境的公平性。當然，我們不能掉以輕心，必須持續推動三方合作，與各商會共同努力。
我也要向反對黨領袖保證，我們對每一份投訴和舉報都會迅速、公正地處理。同時，我們正在建立一個資料庫，記錄不同類型的投訴，以幫助我們更精準地保護員工權益，並在確保僱主合理運營的同時，維護職場公平性。
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{nextpage}以下是英文質詢內容：
Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guanasked the Minister for Manpower whether the Ministry will consider introducing guidelines or regulations on employer's use of Automated Employment Decision Tools (AEDT), which are artificial intelligence technologies that substantially assist or replace discretionary decision-making in hiring or promotions, in order to prevent biases and including measures such as requiring companies to conduct a bias audit or to make disclosure where such tools are used to rank candidates or assess employees for promotion.
The Minister for Manpower (Dr Tan See Leng): Mr Speaker, regardless of the technological tools used to aid employment decisions, such as hiring or promotions, employers must comply with the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices, which promotes fair and merit-based employment practices.
If certain artificial intelligence (AI) use results in discriminatory employment practices, workers or job applicants can approach the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) for assistance. TAFEP will work with the employer to address the grievances of the workers or job applicants and ensure that the employer’s recruitment or performance appraisal processes adhere to the principles of fair employment. To date, TAFEP has not received complaints of discrimination arising from the use of AI tools.
I would also like to caution that AI technologies are evolving at a fast pace. In deploying AI-powered human resources (HR) tools, organisations should refer to the guidelines introduced by the Government to support the responsible development and use of AI. The Government will continue to closely monitor the trends in AI adoption and work with our tripartite partners, the Institute for Human Resource Professionals (IHRP) and the broader HR community to regularly assess if existing guidelines and regulations are adequate.
Mr Speaker: Mr Tay.
Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan (Pioneer): Mr Speaker, I thank the Minister for his response. Just one supplementary question on how we can better protect workers' data privacy when AI systems are used, especially in HR processes.
I am glad that the Minister has introduced the Workplace Fairness Bill as well as some of the measures and Tripartite Advisories, but can we ensure that workers' consent is obtained before their data is used for AI-driven decisions, including promotions, hiring, re-employment and layoffs?
Dr Tan See Leng: I thank the Member for his supplementary question. We certainly will take the Member's suggestion to continue to improve the processes and to tighten it.
As I have shared earlier on, the adoption of AI, the use of the multiple tools is proceeding at a fairly rapid pace. To be overly prescriptive, to be overly tight in terms of our regulations, I think it would not just be not practical, but I do not think at this particular point in time, given the stage of evolution of the entire AI industry, we can really catch up with them adequately.
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{nextpage}I think the best, nuanced approach is to continue to maintain clear responsible use of AI, which the Government has actually introduced in the form of a model AI governance framework. And one particular example is AI Verify. I think for the purpose of the brevity of this discussion, I do not want to go into too much discussion on that part of it. This is a toolkit, which is developed by IMDA. I am happy to walk the Members of the House through at subsequent Parliamentary Sittings if there is another Parliamentary Question filed on that, to talk about how we can use that.
For the use of data in terms of the algorithms that many of these companies may want to use, it is important that the data pertaining to individuals is anonymised. And, of course, consent would really be one of those things that we are looking at as well. So, I hope that gives the Member that reassurance that we are doing everything that we can to stay on top of it.
Mr Speaker: Dr Tan Wu Meng, a short one please.
Dr Tan Wu Meng (Jurong): Can I ask the Minister, in his assessment of the current landscape of TAFEP cases on unfair HR practices, roughly what proportion of cases did the adjudication hinge on proof of intention by the hiring manager or the company's management? Because with AI, it can be difficult to ascertain intention because the AI is not able to give testimony and be cross-examined or provide information for investigation the way a human can be questioned.
Dr Tan See Leng: I thank Dr Tan for his supplementary question. As I have said, we are at a very pivotal state of transformation and the adoption of AI. If we were having a series of discussions earlier on and Dr Tan himself also brought to our attention that, today, you can actually file a legal suit using ChatGPT.
So, what is fundamentally important for us today is to work closely with employees or with potential employees who may feel that they are aggrieved, to surface such cases to us so that we can investigate. Then, obviously, we will work with the companies to see if some of the algorithms – sometimes, it may not be an intention, it could be a function of the datasets that the company is using – have an inherent bias, for instance, in looking at certain characteristics and, therefore, favour hiring or promotion in favour of those characteristics.
So, we need that constant sense of vigilance, we need the participation of all parties coming together. We also need different agencies, the IHRP, the Labour Movement and we need our tripartite partners to come into the space alongside with us. Then we can ensure a more equitable society and workplace for everyone.
Mr Speaker: Mr Pritam Singh.
Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied): Mr Speaker, just a response to the Minister through a question vis-à-vis what he said about AI. Unfortunately, from the worker's perspective, one usually is not in a position of information superiority over the employer, so you do not know what back-end selections or pre-qualifications your AI system has done.
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{nextpage}So, in that context, where there is always a power imbalance and there is always information asymmetry in favour of an employer, what new approaches would the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) consider to encourage employees to raise concerns to, say, TAFEP or to any other appropriate authority in MOM?
Dr Tan See Leng: I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. I think that it is important to recognise that in today's climate, depending on which aspects that you are looking at, the employee also has certain advantages vis-à-vis choosing the choice of employers that they want to work for, because we do have a very tight labour market. So, it is how we achieve that good balance, of balancing responsible employees who really form the majority of our workforce, alongside responsible employers who are also the majority of our entire job ecosystem, with a very good balance achieved through tripartism – working with the Singapore National Employers' Federation (SNEF), working with the Labour Movement and also getting other non-government organisations, the IHRP and other organisations which have been working alongside with us. We hope that we can continue to maintain this harmonious ecosystem.
Of course, we cannot take things for granted because we continue to work hard at tripartism, at working with the different chambers to achieve this. But I want to reassure the Leader that every single complaint and every single question is dealt with expeditiously in a very clear and transparent manner. And by building a database, a repository of the nature of the different types of complaints, it would sharpen our ability to protect employees better and, at the same time, maintain that balance for employers.
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