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The 2023 Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) annual conference brought more than 4,000 IO practitioners and academics to Boston in April for a week of in-depth sessions, workshops, and presentations addressing the latest research and practice that the field has to offer.
We’re proud to count long-time SIOP members among our advisors and leadership, and we asked one of our senior advisors, Emily Campion, PhD, and Marc Fogel, MS, Director of Product, IO Psychology, to share their top takeaways from this year’s conference.
Top 3 Takeaways from SIOP 2023
1. AI is the future & IO is leading the way
With more than two dozen symposium sessions, panel discussions and poster presentations focused on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing, AI was one of the main topics addressed at this year’s conference.
“In general, there is interest in AI more broadly and how it can be used to provide value,” Campion explains, “and I think it is becoming clearer how I/O Psychologists’ domain expertise is important to the effective and fair use of AI in the employment context.”
“The future of work is now, and SIOP members and their organizations are leading the way,” adds Fogel. “Interest in these topics has been growing each year and we can expect the trend to continue.”
2. Not all AI is created equal
AI is often used as a blanket term across machine learning, natural language processing, and more, but it’s important to note that there is no real governance or consistency around how AI tools are built. As a result, it’s impossible to take AI at face value.
Across the board, three concerns regarding AI’s impact in the workplace came up again and again at SIOP:
- Fair & Unbiased - Is the AI tool helping level the playing field by reducing human biases and treating everyone equally, or is it perpetuating existing patterns of bias?
- Value Add - Does the use of the AI tool result in better decisions that lead to increased individual and organizational success?
- Workplace experience - Does the use of the AI tool produce a positive experience for candidates, employees, hiring managers, and other end-users?
Because each AI tool is built differently, it’s critical that each of these concerns is addressed on a case-by-case basis, any time a new work-related AI tool or platform is being considered.
Talent Select AI, for example, has undergone extensive IO validation to ensure ethicality and absence of bias. It’s important that IOs and organizations thoroughly vet AI providers to ensure they meet the same high standards.
“Increased efficiency is great, but it cannot come at the expense of fairness,” Fogel says.
“There doesn’t seem to be the same fear of AI in the IO community as you see in the media,” according to Campion. “This may be because our field knows measurement, we trust the IOs who are using AI, and as a community of scientists, we are transparent in our work.”
3. IOs will play a key role in bringing AI to the workplace
At the end of the day, IOs will be the ones implementing, navigating, and ultimately validating AI in the workplace, and will play a pivotal role in the future of workplace technological innovation.
“The value of IO skills in measurement to the technical skills of data scientists was a key theme in many of the presentations I went to that focused on the application of machine learning,” Campion explains. “I think we are settling into the role we will play as IOs in this area, and that is bringing these crucial skills around measurement of human knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics in the workplace.”
“It’s a really exciting time in IO, with so many new tools and applications emerging to help drive innovation across the workplace,” adds Fogel. “As practitioners, we need to be on the front lines of ensuring AI is implemented fairly and ethically at our organizations.”
Marc Fogel, MS, Director of Product, IO Psychology, joined the Talent Select AI team in Spring 2023 as IO Director of Product. He is a seasoned practitioner with more than two decades of experience in Industrial/Organizational Psychology and Organization Development. Before joining Talent Select AI, Marc spent time in various industries including finance, healthcare, and the military, and led the design and implementation of selection assessments for one of the world's largest airlines.
Emily Campion, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship in the Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa and a consultant for Campion Services. Her research falls under the “future of work” umbrella and includes topics related to machine learning and natural language processing in personnel selection, alternative and remote work experiences, and workforce diversity and representation.
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