ROBERTSON ASSOCIATES’ Ethical Charter for the Use of Artificial Intelligence

Preamble

As part of our recruitment activities, we recognize the growing impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and commit to its responsible use, in compliance with ethical principles and European regulations, including the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) adopted by the European Union and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This charter defines the fundamental principles guiding the use of AI within our company to ensure transparent, fair, and respectful practices concerning fundamental rights.

 

1. Principle of Transparency and Explainability

We are committed to ensuring complete transparency in the use of AI systems. Candidates, clients, and employees must be informed when AI is used in the recruitment process, whether for resume screening, candidate evaluation, or decision-making assistance.

We use standard AI tools such as ChatGPT, Mistral, or Gemini, along with other specialized solutions that may be adopted in the future. However, we do not have access to or fully understand the underlying algorithms of these tools. Therefore, we ensure that their use adheres to transparency and fairness criteria while providing accessible explanations regarding their impact on the recruitment process.

We do not work with Deepseek, as we believe, it infringes basic rules of neutrality.

 

2. Privacy and Data Protection

The use of AI relies on processing personal data, particularly that of candidates. We strictly comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by ensuring:

  • Informing individuals about the use of their data and obtaining their consent when required.
  • Ensuring secure processing of data and limiting its retention period.
  • Allowing candidates to exercise their rights to access, rectification, and objection regarding their personal data.
  • Requiring our AI providers to comply with GDPR and European data protection standards.

 

3. Principle of Non-Discrimination and Fairness

We ensure that AI does not perpetuate or amplify discriminatory biases based on age, gender, ethnicity, religion, disability, or any other legally protected characteristic.
To achieve this, we conduct regular tests on our AI tools to detect and correct any potential biases. We also guarantee that AI is never the sole decision-making tool but serves as support for human expertise.

 

4. Human Oversight and Accountability

AI must never completely replace human decision-making. Our consultants and recruiters retain a central role in candidate evaluation. We commit to:

  • Training our teams on the ethical use of AI.
  • Continuously supervising the AI tools used.
  • Fully assuming responsibility for decisions made with AI assistance.

 

5. Security and Robustness of AI Systems

We ensure that the AI systems used in our company are secure, reliable, and resilient to errors. We work with providers that adhere to strict cybersecurity and regulatory compliance standards. These providers are for example Microsoft or OpenAI.

We conduct regular tests and updates to ensure our tools remain effective and secure.

 

6. Right to Contest and Possibility of Appeal

All candidates and clients must have the ability to challenge decisions influenced by AI and request a human evaluation.

We implement mechanisms allowing candidates to:

  • Request an explanation of how a decision was made.
  • Appeal and request a human review in case of disagreement.
  • Exercise their rights under current regulations.

 

7. Commitment to Ethical and Responsible AI

We commit to:

  • Regularly assessing the ethical impact of AI in our operations.
  • Adapting our practices to legislative and technological developments.
  • Participating in initiatives promoting responsible AI in the recruitment sector.

Effective Date: February 9th 2025