The lawsuit against Workday challenging the potential discriminatory outputs of artificial intelligence-based hiring programs could be a defining moment for the U.S. legal system. The first named plaintiff alleged being rejected from over 100 positions due to Workday’s recruitment screening tools, leading to claims of age discrimination and violations of civil rights acts. Despite Workday’s arguments, the court ruled in favor of preliminary certification for a nationwide collective action on the age discrimination claim.

Workday has denied the plaintiffs’ allegations, stating that their AI recruiting tools are not trained to use or identify protected characteristics. The ongoing lawsuit raises questions about discrimination in AI hiring systems, with multiple states enacting laws to address the issue. Another lawsuit in California against Eightfold AI Inc. sheds light on the challenges of AI-based recruitment, as the company allegedly collected personal information from unverified sources to rank candidates without their consent.