Blue State of Michigan's mistake led to man filing bankruptcy

[Democrat Incompetents]

Democrats, too stupid to program computers.

LANSING — Brian Russell never committed unemployment insurance
fraud, or even attempted to do so.

And he had no idea an automated state of Michigan system had
accused him of doing anything wrong until 2016, when officials
seized his nearly $11,000 tax refund check.

The state finally cleared Russell in 2018, but the false fraud
debacle — which has hurt tens of thousands of innocent Michigan
residents — undermined his ability to provide for his two kids
and led to a bankruptcy filling.

"It's devastating," Russell, a 43-year-old maintenance
electrician from Zeeland, told the Free Press. "You would think
if they were going to put something that huge in place, they
would have someone — or even a team of people — overlooking it
and making sure there were no problems."

Experts say the MIDAS (Michigan Integrated Data Automated
System) false fraud fiasco, while unique to Michigan in terms of
the details, is only one of the most glaring national examples
of how the use of artificial intelligence by governments is
harming citizens. Those most likely to be harmed by such
systems, they say, are the economically disadvantaged.

"We're seeing more and more of these kinds of atrocities," said
Rashida Richardson, director of policy research at the AI Now
Institute, a nonprofit connected with New York University that
researches the social implications of artificial intelligence.

Other examples of "intelligent" government computer systems
running amok, in Michigan and elsewhere, include:

In another Michigan case, the Department of Health and Human
Services used an automated system to disqualify those with
outstanding felony warrants from receiving state food
assistance. Between the end of 2012 and the start of 2015, the
system produced false matches that improperly disqualified more
than 19,000 residents from food assistance. A 2013 federal class-
action lawsuit led to an out-of-court settlement and
reinstatement of those improperly disqualified.
In Idaho, introduction of an automated system to determine the
dollar value of disability services available to Medicaid
recipients resulted in large cuts for many recipients. A court
later found that the system was unlawfully arbitrary, unfair and
lacked due process. There have been similar cases related to
disability benefits in Arkansas and Oregon.
In Houston, where a system of algorithms was used to evaluate
the performance of teachers, teachers were able to overturn the
system on due process grounds. They successfully argued that
because the vendor considered the evaluation system a trade
secret, they were denied the right to use the data to understand
or improve their performance.
In the District of Columbia, an automated system used to assess
the risk for violence of youth in the juvenile justice system
was found to be racially discriminatory as it was used in
connection with one young defendant deemed "high risk" and in
need of detention. The system is still in use.
Other concerns relate to the use of facial recognition
technology, which is extensively used by police in Detroit, and
"predictive policing," which the Michigan State Police has shown
interest in.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other groups are
pointing to disasters like MIDAS to push for laws that limit,
regulate and increase transparency in the ways governments
collect and use data for computerized decision-making.

More: Michigan residents falsely accused of jobless fraud can
sue, Supreme Court says

More: State names jobless advocate to lead Unemployment
Insurance Agency

Richardson said governments can be expected to continue to
expand the range of applications as technology advances and the
marketing of systems by software vendors expands.

The "creepiest example" of a new system Richardson is aware of
is soon to be implemented in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania,
where officials have been using a "family screening tool" and
predictive analytics to try to head off child abuse. Starting in
January, the county is planning to assign each child and family
a "risk score" at birth, according to a county fact sheet and
news media reports.

Jim Hendler, a computer science professor and director of the
Institute for Data Exploration and Applications at Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, said many concerns
about government use of artificial intelligence are well-founded
and others may be overblown.

One of the major shortfalls of the MIDAS system in Michigan was
insufficient testing before it was put into use, Hendler said.

When he advises governments on the appropriate uses of such
systems, Hendler tells them to "keep humans in the loop to the
extent possible until trust is built," he said.

Trust is important, he said.

After the Flint water crisis, scientists developed an artificial
intelligence system to analyze a range of data to try to
determine which homes were most likely serviced underground by
lead pipes, in need of priority replacement, he said. The system
had a high level of accuracy, but it was abandoned because
residents had not bought into the system and were suspicious and
concerned about why some homes were having their water lines
replaced more quickly than others, he said. Moving away from the
automated system meant that replacement of lead lines took
longer than it otherwise would have, he said.

Jennifer Lord, the Royal Oak attorney representing plaintiffs in
a class-action lawsuit over the MIDAS system, recently attended
an international workshop in Berlin about the uses and abuses of
artificial intelligence systems.

"It's really hard to wrap your head around how big this is, how
fast it's moving, and how totally unregulated it is," Lord said.

"Government is outsourcing a governmental function to private
entities that have no accountability and no transparency."

When lawyers or others try to find out how a system such as
MIDAS could have produced so many errors, the software
developers often seek to put a privacy shield over how the
system is designed, citing confidential intellectual property
rights, she said.

"I don't think it's too much to ask" to have transparency and
public input in the development of these systems, she said.

"If we're asking a private company to carry out a government
function, they should be transparent."

For Russell, who was assessed penalties multiple times higher
than the alleged unemployment insurance fraud that never
happened, life is finally starting to return to something near
normal. Though he got back most of the money that was taken from
him, far more damage was done than he ever expects to be able to
recoup.

The state sent automated notices of its fraud determination to
Russell's online unemployment insurance account, which he had no
reason to check, because he had not been collecting unemployment
insurance for years when the alleged fraud was detected.

"It ruined me," he said. And coming out of the blue, "it was
like, I would almost want to say, being stabbed in the back."

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/12/22/gover
nment-artificial-intelligence-midas-computer-fraud-
fiasco/4407901002/