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algorithmic bias
Markey, Schumer Demand Civil Rights Protections for Federal Use of AI
"Without new protections," they warned, "today's supercharged, AI-powered algorithms risk reinforcing and magnifying the discrimination that marginalized communities already experience."
Sep 16, 2024
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Ed Markey on Monday sent a letter urging the Biden administration to pursue additional action to protect civil rights and liberties related to federal agencies' use of artificial intelligence.
While recognizing the "strong steps" that the administration has already taken—such as President Joe Biden's October 2023 executive order—Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Markey (D-Mass.) stressed to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Shalanda Young that "more must be done" to mitigate, prevent, and eliminate algorithmic bias and discrimination.
Specifically, the pair is pushing OMB to "require all federal agencies that use AI for consequential decisions to establish a civil rights office, if they do not already have one; ensure all civil rights offices are staffed with experts in algorithmic discrimination; and encourage federal agencies to establish additional safeguards to prevent algorithmic discrimination."
As the Biden White House explained in its 2022 Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, "Algorithmic discrimination occurs when automated systems contribute to unjustified different treatment or impacts disfavoring people based on their race, color, ethnicity, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions, gender identity, intersex status, and sexual orientation), religion, age, national origin, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other classification protected by law."
"Biased algorithms have increasingly been used to make or influence decisions, imposing real harm on Black, Brown, immigrant, and other marginalized communities."
The ACLU earlier this year sued Biden's National Security Agency in hopes of uncovering how it is using AI, and emphasized concerns that the NSA's use of such tools could harm civil rights and liberties.
The senators wrote Monday that "by ensuring that agencies have the resources, personnel, and policies to detect and mitigate bias, we can ensure that the AI age does not come at the expense of already marginalized and vulnerable communities."
"Without new protections," they warned, "today's supercharged, AI-powered algorithms risk reinforcing and magnifying the discrimination that marginalized communities already experience due to poorly trained and tested algorithms."
The senators highlighted how "biased algorithms have increasingly been used to make or influence decisions, imposing real harm on Black, Brown, immigrant, and other marginalized communities," citing examples from mortgage applications, hiring and employment, government benefits, and healthcare.
Earlier this year, OMB issued guidance regarding government use of AI tools, which Damon T. Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, called "a significant step to implement meaningful safeguards."
Noting that the guidance directs agencies to "cease use of any AI that the agency finds cannot adequately mitigate unlawful discrimination," the senators argued that "OMB should also work with agencies to set strict guidelines to prevent algorithmic discrimination within relevant agency jurisdiction."
The OMB, they said, should push agencies to require recipients of federal funds and contracts "to complete pre-development, pre-deployment, and ongoing impact assessments to identify, mitigate, prevent, and eliminate biased AI," as well as "to allow individuals to opt out of AI-powered algorithms used in consequential decisions and instead request human decision-makers."
The senators also urged the office to pressure U.S. agencies to "fund the development of common, accessible resources for auditing algorithms—including open-source tools—for bias, discrimination, and other harms," and to "develop guidance on best practices for mitigating the development and deployment of biased AI-powered algorithms."
"Finally, because a regulation is only as strong as its enforcement, OMB should support federal agencies that take robust enforcement against any company found to violate these rules," the senators wrote, calling on Young to convene inspectors general to coordinate on best practices.
Reporting on the letter, Axiosnoted Monday that "Schumer's bipartisan AI roadmap fell short for civil rights organizations that wanted stronger language on algorithmic bias and discrimination."
Meanwhile, Markey has been a key force behind both the Algorithmic Justice and Online Platform Transparency Act and the Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act.
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'This Should Be a National Scandal': For-Profit Medicare Advantage Plans Using AI for Denials
"They're using AI to predict when to cut off payment for treatments," said one watchdog group. "We repeat, AI. Not a doctor."
Nov 03, 2023
As Medicare Advantage plans rely increasingly upon artificial intelligence to determine—and often deny—payment for patient care, a group of Democratic U.S. lawmakers on Friday urged Medicare's top official to strengthen oversight of AI and algorithmic tools used to make coverage determinations.
"In recent years, problems posed by prior authorization have been exacerbated by MA plans' increasing use of AI or algorithmic software to assist in their coverage determinations in certain care settings, including inpatient hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and home health," 32 House Democrats led by Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) wrote in a letter to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Books LaSure.
"Advocates and the media report that the use of such software has led to coverage decisions that are more restrictive than allowed under traditional Medicare rules, as well as more frequent and repeated denials of care," the lawmakers wrote. "Absent prohibiting the use of AI/algorithmic tools outright, it is unclear how CMS is monitoring and evaluating MA plans' use of such tools in order ensure that plans comply with Medicare's rules and do not inappropriately create barriers to care."
The lawmakers are calling on CMS to take steps including, but not limited to:
- Requiring MA plans to report prior authorization data including reason for denial, by type of service, beneficiary characteristics (such as health conditions), and timeliness of prior authorization decisions;
- Comparing "guidance" generated by AI and algorithmic tools with actual MA coverage decisions;
- Assessing how and to what extent initial prior-authorized AI determinations for services are adjusted to account for unanticipated changes in a patients' condition;
- Requiring attestation from MA plans and contractors that their coverage guidelines are not more restrictive than traditional Medicare; and
- Determining whether MA plans are inappropriately using race/other factors in these algorithms.
MA plans are not part of Medicare. They are a private health insurance "scam" created by a GOP-controlled Congress and signed into law 20 years ago by then-President George W. Bush "as a way of routing hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars into the pockets of for-profit insurance companies," according to frequent Common Dreams opinion contributor Thom Hartmann.
A report published last month by Physicians for a National Health Program revealed that MA plans are overcharging U.S. taxpayers by up to $140 billion per year, enough to completely eliminate Medicare Part B premiums or fully fund Medicare's prescription drug program.
The lawmakers' letter is endorsed by advocacy groups including the Center for Medicare Advocacy, Public Citizen, Social Security Works, Center for Health and Democracy, and Business Leaders for Health Care Transformation.
"The use of AI by Medicare Advantage insurers to deny needed care to seniors and people with disabilities represents the most recent and dangerous step by greedy companies focused on profit instead of patients," Public Citizen executive vice president Lisa Gilbert said in a statement.
"Now is the time for CMS to crack down on companies that are using AI and other mechanisms to deny care that would be covered if the enrollee were covered by traditional Medicare," Gilbert added. "Understanding how Medicare Advantage insurers are using AI to deny needed care and holding bad actors accountable are crucial steps to protecting seniors and the Medicare program."
Last year, a U.S. Senate probe found that insurance companies and other brokers are "running amok" with "fraudsters and scam artists" making false or misleading claims to dupe senior citizens into purchasing MA plans.
Progressive lawmakers have also criticized President Joe Biden for delaying promised curbs on Medicare Advantage plans amid heavy insurance industry lobbying.
Earlier this year, Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.)—one of the 32 lawmakers who signed the letter to Brooks LaSure—Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), and Jan Schakowsky reintroduced a bill to change the official name of MA to "alternative private health plan" to make clear that such coverage is offered by for-profit companies.
"The scheme is called Medicare Advantage," Pocan and Khanna explained. "But in reality, so-called 'Medicare Advantage' is neither Medicare nor an advantage."
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Warning of AI Threat to 'Human Existence,' Health Experts Urge Halt to Unregulated Rollout
"If AI is to ever fulfil its promise to benefit humanity and society, we must protect democracy, strengthen our public-interest institutions, and dilute power so that there are effective checks and balances."
May 10, 2023
While many experts agree that artificial intelligence holds tremendous potential for advancing medical science and human health, a group of international doctors and other specialists warned this week that AI "could pose an existential threat to humanity" and called for a moratorium on the development of such technology pending suitable regulation.
Responding to an open letter signed by thousands of experts calling for a pause on the development and deployment of advanced AI technology, pioneering inventor, futurist, and Singularity Group co-founder Ray Kurzweil—who did not sign the letter—said on Wednesday that "there are tremendous benefits to advancing AI in critical fields such as medicine and health, education, pursuit of renewable energy sources to replace fossil fuels, and scores of other fields."
However, an analysis by an international group of physicians and related experts published in the latest edition of the peer-reviewed journal BMJ Open Health warns that "while artificial intelligence offers promising solutions in healthcare, it also poses a number of threats to human health and well-being via social, political, economic, and security-related determinants of health."
\u201cHealth experts call for a halt to self-improving general AI development until regulation catches up.\n\n@GlobalHealthBMJ warn of harms to patients, data privacy issues, and a worsening of social and health inequalities, among other potential dangers.\n https://t.co/7bO970xL4b\u201d— Future of Life Institute (@Future of Life Institute) 1683722827
According to the study:
The risks associated with medicine and healthcare include the potential for AI errors to cause patient harm, issues with data privacy and security, and the use of AI in ways that will worsen social and health inequalities by either incorporating existing human biases and patterns of discrimination into automated algorithms or by deploying AI in ways that reinforce social inequalities in access to healthcare. One example of harm accentuated by incomplete or biased data was the development of an AI-driven pulse oximeter that overestimated blood oxygen levels in patients with darker skin, resulting in the undertreatment of their hypoxia.
Facial recognition systems have also been shown to be more likely to misclassify gender in subjects who are darker-skinned. It has also been shown that populations who are subject to discrimination are under-represented in datasets underlying AI solutions and may thus be denied the full benefits of AI in healthcare.
The publication's authors highlighted three distinct sets of threats associated with the misuse of AI. The first of these is "the ability of AI to rapidly clean, organize, and analyze massive data sets consisting of personal data, including images."
\u201cArda of @Identity2_0 on automation within healthcare\n\nVisit https://t.co/JzCTyuarxi to hear more from Arda and Savena of Identity 2.0 #digitaldehumanisation #autonomy #automation #ai #techforgood #teamhuman #healthcare\u201d— Stop Killer Robots (@Stop Killer Robots) 1683190800
This can be utilized "to manipulate behavior and subvert democracy," the authors explained, citing the role of AI in attempts to subvert the 2013 and 2017 Kenyan elections, the 2016 U.S. presidential race, and the 2017 French presidential contest.
"When combined with the rapidly improving ability to distort or misrepresent reality with deepfakes, AI-driven information systems may further undermine democracy by causing a general breakdown in trust or by driving social division and conflict, with ensuing public health impacts," the analysis contends.
The second set of threats concerns the development and deployment of lethal autonomous weapons systems—often referred to as "killer robots"—that can select, engage, and destroy human targets without meaningful human control.
The third threat set involves the many millions of jobs that experts predict will be lost due to the widespread deployment of AI technology.
\u201cTom and Jerry creators predicted Job loss due to AI 60 years back.\n\nThis is likely the outcome when to add Boston dynamics + GPT powered Context + visual AI\n\n\ud83d\udc4980% of current jobs we are training our graduates for will not be there in next 10 years\n\n\ud83d\udc49Massive upskillings and\u2026\u201d— Ashish Dogra (@Ashish Dogra) 1683117455
"While there would be many benefits from ending work that is repetitive, dangerous, and unpleasant, we already know that unemployment is strongly associated with adverse health outcomes and behavior, including harmful consumption of alcohol and illicit drugs, being overweight, and having lower self-rated quality of life and health and higher levels of depression and risk of suicide," the analysis states.
Furthermore, the paper warns of the threat of self-improving, general-purpose AI—or AGI—is "potentially all-encompassing":
We are now seeking to create machines that are vastly more intelligent and powerful than ourselves. The potential for such machines to apply this intelligence and power—whether deliberately or not—in ways that could harm or subjugate humans—is real and has to be considered. If realized, the connection of AGI to the internet and the real world, including via vehicles, robots, weapons, and all the digital systems that increasingly run our societies, could well represent the "biggest event in human history."
"With exponential growth in AI research and development, the window of opportunity to avoid serious and potentially existential harms is closing," the authors stressed. "The future outcomes of the development of AI and AGI will depend on policy decisions taken now and on the effectiveness of regulatory institutions that we design to minimize risk and harm and maximize benefit."
"Crucially, as with other technologies, preventing or minimizing the threats posed by AI will require international agreement and cooperation, and the avoidance of a mutually destructive AI 'arms race,'" the analysis stresses. "It will also require decision-making that is free of conflicts of interest and protected from the lobbying of powerful actors with a vested interest."
"Crucially, as with other technologies, preventing or minimizing the threats posed by AI will require international agreement and cooperation."
"If AI is to ever fulfill its promise to benefit humanity and society, we must protect democracy, strengthen our public-interest institutions, and dilute power so that there are effective checks and balances," the authors concluded.
The new analysis comes a week after the White House unveiled a plan meant to promote "responsible American innovation in artificial intelligence."
On Wednesday, Data for Progress published a survey showing that more than half of U.S. voters—including 52% of Democrats, 57% of Independents, and 58% of Republicans—believe the United States "should slow down AI progress."
\u201cNEW POLL: Voters are concerned about ChatGPT, and 62% of voters \u2014 including majorities of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans \u2014 support creating a federal agency to regulate standards for the development and use of AI systems.\n\nhttps://t.co/AkmL5givjZ\u201d— Data for Progress (@Data for Progress) 1683729812
According to the survey, 62% of voters also support the creation of a federal agency to regulate the development and deployment of AI technology.
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