The HR AI checklist: Asking the right questions

HR professionals feel the pressure to implement and sometimes they do so without pausing to ask the right questions. The perception is often: “It’s AI – I probably won’t understand it anyway.”  

Vendors sometimes reinforce this by speaking in overly technical terms. The result is silence, and flawed solutions can slip through unnoticed. 

To bridge this gap, Assessio has developed a practical checklist. Its purpose is simple: Empower HR leaders, regardless of their technical background, to ask the right questions when evaluating AI solutions.

When to use the checklist

The checklist is designed for moments when HR is considering AI solutions for recruitment, assessment, or talent development and needs to compare vendors or ensure compliance. It is particularly relevant when: 

• Comparing different AI solutions for recruitment, assessment, or development. 
• Negotiating with a potential vendor or partner. 
• Ensuring your organization meets regulatory and ethical standards in talent decisions. 

The checklist covers three essential areas: data input, data output, and compliance. 

1. Data input – what data feeds the AI?

The quality of AI output is only as good as the data it receives. Incomplete, irrelevant, or biased input will inevitably lead to misleading results.

For example, a system that relies solely on personality data may overemphasize traits while overlooking essential skills. If it only considers IQ, it risks ignoring factors such as collaboration or empathy. AI is not flawless – and irrelevant inputs can easily distort the decision-making process.

Key questions for vendors:

• How does the underlying data support prediction of job performance?
• What research supports this claim?
• How are data sources monitored and updated to prevent bias from affecting the outcomes?
• How do you work with data variation to ensure the model remains broadly applicable and not biased toward a narrow outcome?
• How does the system ensure only job-relevant data is used in predictions?

2. Data output – how does the AI interpret data?

Even with high-quality input, AI can fail if the framework for interpretation is flawed. Without clear guardrails, the system may “over-interpret” or draw conclusions from the wrong source. For instance, predicting the capability to learn from personality traits rather than cognitive data will produce error.

This is why frameworks such as Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) are important. They ensure that AI looks at the right type of data depending on the question asked. Without such mechanisms, the risk of false insights increases significantly. 

Key questions for vendors:

• What guardrails are in place to ensure AI interprets data correctly?
• Can HR users see which data sources were used to generate a given output?
• How has the output been validated against real-world job outcomes? 
• What are the options for human review before AI recommendations are applied?
• How does the system handle cases with insufficient or missing data?

3. Compliance – is privacy and ethics safe safeguarded?

HR deals with some of the most sensitive data within any organization. Ensuring compliance is therefore non-negotiable. Questions of privacy, security, and ethics are not secondary issues, they are foundational. Any breach risks both individual harm and severe reputational and financial consequences for the company.

Key questions for vendors:

• How does the solution comply with the EU AI Act and GDPR?
• Where is the data stored, and who has access to it?
• Is customer data ever used to train the model? If so, how?
• Are there regular audits and monitoring procedures in place?
• What safeguards prevent the system from creating or reinforcing bias or inferring information not suitable in a working context?

Conclusion

The checklist is not about turning HR professionals into data scientists. It is about enabling an AI strategy that strengthens people decisions through validity, fairness, compliance, and trust. By equipping HR with a clear, practical tool, the checklist helps them ask the right questions and demand transparent answers.

👉 Want to understand how to do this in practice?
Download our whitepaper: The Complete Guide to AI in HR