Adopting AI Responsibly: Guidelines for Procurement of AI Solutions by the Private Sector | World Economic Forum and GEP

As the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace grows rapidly, it is increasingly important for HR leaders and their teams to collaborate with their Procurement teams to evaluate and select external AI-based solutions. However, as pointed out in this new 33-page toolkit developed by the World Economic Forum in partnership with GEP, while AI systems are rapidly evolving, in-house AI expertise often remains limited, and there are no standard benchmarks and assessment criteria to aid the end-to-end procurement process. To address this gap, the toolkit offers a structured framework to help internal practitioners navigate the AI procurement landscape. Each section of the report provides a series of relevant questions to ask during the evaluation process, such as: How will the AI solution deliver on expected business outcomes? Is there transparency about what the AI solution can and cannot achieve? Can a non-AI solution deliver the same outcomes? How effectively can the solution be updated to accommodate changes in requirements? Do we understand all the costs involved in purchasing and maintaining the AI system? What are the different sources of data to be considered? How do you eliminate or minimize bias and ethical prejudices from the AI solution? This toolkit equips HR leaders and procurement teams with the necessary knowledge and tools to collaborate effectively with AI solution providers. As a bonus, I am resharing another toolkit by the World Economic Forum that contains various tools, such as checklists and questionnaires, specifically designed to facilitate the responsible adoption of AI in HR.