GenAI & DEI: One Double-Edged Sword Upon Another

Abstract

This chapter examines the double-edged implications of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in organizations and the labor force. Diversity has been associated with both benefits and risks, like creativity and conflicts, depending on how it is managed. Similarly, GenAI carries both promise and peril. We urge that active and strategic management of GenAI is needed at all levels of society (government, institutions, organizations). We outline two overarching perspectives. The Displacement Perspective highlights how GenAI may disrupt labor markets by depreciating some skills and amplifying others, with marginalized groups disproportionately exposed to adverse effects paralleling inequities during the Industrial and Digital Revolutions. The Social-Enhancement Perspective underscores opportunities for empowerment through expanded access to education, advocacy, and collective action if equitable training and policies are prioritized. We further analyze algorithmic bias in GenAI-driven human-resource management systems, particularly in recruitment, selection, and performance evaluation—where biased datasets risk reproducing structural inequities. Conversely, GenAI also presents opportunities to strengthen DEI initiatives by enabling access to DEI analytics, scalable training, and mediating intergroup communication. We call on policymakers to expand equitable access to GenAI tools and literacy, enforce algorithmic-bias audits, and fund interdisciplinary research; urge organizational leaders to ensure rigorous oversight of AI-driven human resource management (HRM) systems; and encourage researchers to develop bias-mitigation strategies and innovative DEI-AI applications.