Senators Probe Social Security Administration's AI Use

Top senators have asked Martin O’Malley, the Social Security Administration commissioner, to detail steps that the agency is taking to ensure that its artificial intelligence systems “are being deployed responsibly, especially in contexts involving decisions about benefit eligibility and payment amounts.”

In a letter Wednesday to O’Malley, Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the Senate Finance Committee chairman, and Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, the committee’s top Republican, state that the SSA “is entrusted with ensuring accurate and timely payment of more than $1 trillion in Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments to millions of seniors, individuals with disabilities, and their families each year.”

In light of the agency’s “important mission,” Wyden and Crapo asked O’Malley to provide information by Sept. 3 on the SSA’s use of AI, “including SSA’s risk management frameworks for AI, positions for qualified personnel to develop and oversee AI, and the processes used to expedite disability determinations and appeals.”

In November, Wyden and Crapo asked federal agencies about their use of AI “to ensure it is used appropriately.”