Can Indian Firms Use AI To Reduce Recruitment Bias In 2026?

Given all the talk around how AI could help companies become a force for good, one area where the expectation would be high — with the hope of seeing positive change in the financial year 2025-26 — would be related to the use of AI-powered automated employment decision tools (AEDT) by local enterprises while hiring for various jobs. 

This, especially in the backdrop of close to 60 multinational companies signing the ‘Pledge for a Trustworthy AI in the World of Work’ at the AI Action Summit held in Paris in February. As part of this pledge, these companies promised to “ensure AI eliminates biases in recruitment and does not exclude underrepresented groups”.

Acquisition And Onboarding Of Talent 

AEDT use machine learning/AI, statistical modelling and data analytics to assist companies in the process of taking recruitment-related decisions. From simplifying the process of sourcing to handling communications with job aspirants and multiple other functions, automated tools contribute greatly to making life easier for HR professionals.

Increasing advancements in AI carry the promise of further easing the employee onboarding process for those engaged in talent acquisition. So, what specifically is the change that one would like to see in connection with AEDT in India, whose use of domestic enterprises has been on the rise?

Bias Audits By Indian Corporates

In FY26, it would be nice to observe some leading Indian corporates take the initiative to undertake ‘bias audits’ of the algorithms they use to select employees to ensure these are fair, are not discriminatory towards any section or group, and, more importantly from a company's standpoint, making sure that an organisation is not losing out on potentially good hires. 

Not just that. A decision taken this fiscal year to undertake a bias audit not as a one-off but at periodic intervals to determine the fairness and inclusiveness of the algorithms being used would also be great.

Moreover, it would be fantastic to see leading chambers of commerce like FICCI, CII, Assocham, and sectoral forums like Nasscom etc. urging their members to give bias audits a try on a voluntary basis, to showcase their progressive outlook. None of these industry bodies have ever said anything publicly on the AEDT issue.    

Currently, there is no legal compulsion for Indian companies to undertake such an audit. Then again, not every step taken by an organisation in connection with their employees needs to be solely dictated by whether it is a regulatory compliance requirement.

If implemented, though, a voluntary AEDT bias audit could go a long way in making a company stand out as being more progressive than its peers and, also, potentially help an enterprise in attracting top-grade talent.

Besides, a significant number of leading domestic corporate groups conducting an algorithmic bias audit — with such an exercise monitored at the Board level and, if necessary, through a dedicated Board sub-committee — could send out a strong message worldwide of the open-minded approach of Indian organisations. Moreover, it could potentially lead to the development of best practices in this arena tailored to the Indian context.

Promoting Good Biases, Minimising Bad Ones

Unfortunately, there is hardly any information available in the public domain on whether Indian enterprises using automated employment decision tools are periodically checking the data on which the tools have been trained to minimise the risk of bias.

The picture is also hazy about the extent to which companies are relying on technology to fill vacancies, and what firms are doing to address data privacy concerns arising out of the use of automated tools for the hiring process.

Admittedly, bias can never be 100 per cent eliminated under any circumstance. “There is little escape from human bias, it can be minimised or neutralised but not eliminated. Above all, all bias is not evil, there are good and bad biases. Promote good and minimise bad,” former Tata Sons board director R Gopalakrishnan said, while replying to a question on the issue of bias audits of AEDTs.

But even while accepting Gopalakrishnan’s argument, the fact remains that algorithmic bias continues to be one of the biggest challenges while ensuring that AI can benefit all and not a select set. 

Companies trying to do something to check bias creeping into the AEDTs they are using would be in keeping with their responsibilities to society. If AEDT bias audits could lessen the chances of unfairness even to a limited degree, that, by itself, would be no small gain for those on the lookout for jobs in the world’s most populous nation committed to the principle of ‘sab ka vikas (development for all)'.

Ultimately, Indian companies do not always need to look towards what their counterparts in the West are doing while taking decisions related to the use of AI in the work arena.

India, with its ambition of becoming a developed country by 2047, needs home-grown businesses who want to set the global direction on AI and taking a proactive stance on limiting AEDT bias could prove an excellent start in this regard.

(The writer is a current affairs commentator. Views are personal)