The UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), responsible for data protection, will be probing into claims suggesting that artificial intelligence used by employers for staff recruitment discredits ethnic minorities or other groups in the country, a spokesperson for the ICO said on Thursday.

"We will be investigating concerns over the use of algorithms to sift recruitment applications, which could be negatively impacting employment opportunities of those from diverse backgrounds," the spokesperson said, as quoted by The Guardian.

Any possible bias by artificial intelligence systems is likely to result in "damaging consequences for people's lives," due to the possibility of people getting rejected for a job, loan, or social benefit without any objectivity, the ICO representative said, the outlet added.

London will check the algorithms amid surging concerns that they are adversely affecting job opportunities for certain groups, especially minorities.

New UK information commissioner John Edwards will announce the investigation later on Thursday as part of his three-year plan for the watchdog, the spokesperson revealed. 

Edwards will officially confirm the ICO's plans to review the impact AI use could hold for groups of people who are not part of the testing for the software, such as neurodiverse or ethnic peoples, the ICO representative added.

In 2021, the agency stressed that algorithms used by AI may accidentally or deliberately produce results that discredit certain groups of people, which comes in violation of the 2010 UK Equality Act, which provides the legal basis for the protection of individuals from bias by other people and automated systems.