WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Academy of Social Insurance has
launched a new Task Force on Artificial Intelligence, Emerging
Technology, and Disability Benefits.
“As the use and potential capabilities of artificial
intelligence and other emerging technologies have expanded,
‘benefits tech’ is now being utilized more by the day within the
realm of social insurance,” said the Academy’s incoming CEO Rebecca
Vallas. “This intersection is a critically important new focus for
the Academy’s work,” she said.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) has recently begun
expanding its use of these technologies in administering its
disability programs, Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI)
and Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
On the one hand, AI and emerging tech offer opportunities to
streamline access to benefits and reduce processing times to bring
down SSA’s disability backlog. “Due in large part to the
administrative complexity of SSA’s disability determination
process, an estimated 30,000 disabled workers die every year
waiting for benefits, according to the latest data,” said Tracey
Gronniger, one of the Task Force’s Co-Chairs and a member of the
Academy’s Board of Directors..
“At the same time, the use of AI and other emerging tech in the
benefits realm also presents significant risks,” said Henry
Claypool, also a Task Force Co-Chair. Experiences in other use
cases—such as veterans’ benefits, Unemployment Insurance, Medicaid,
and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—offer valuable
lessons, both in terms of best practices and potential pitfalls
from the perspective of equity and the rights of benefits
applicants and recipients.
“The members of this Task Force bring a broad range of expertise
to the table and bridge silos and sectors that are rarely
represented in one room,” said Chantel Boyens, co-principal
investigator of the Task Force.
The Task Force will begin its work by developing principles and
guardrails for the use of AI and emerging tech in the context of
disability benefits, and surveying learnings from other use cases,
programs, and sectors.
Members of the Academy’s Task Force on AI, Emerging
Technology, and Disability Benefits:
Chantel Boyens, Co-Principal Investigator and
Principal Policy Associate, Urban Institute
Jack Smalligan, Co-Principal Investigator and
Senior Policy Fellow, Urban Institute
Jen Burdick, Task Force Co-Chair and Divisional
Supervising Attorney, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia
David Camp, Task Force, Co-Chair and CEO,
National Organization of Social Security Claimants’
Representatives
Henry Claypool, Task Force Co-Chair and
Technology Policy Consultant, American Association of People with
Disabilities
Tracey Gronniger, Task Force Co-Chair and
Managing Director of Economic Security and Housing, Justice in
Aging
Ariana Aboulafia, Policy Counsel for Disability
Rights, Center for Democracy and Technology
Ashley Burnside, Senior Policy Analyst, Center
for Law and Social Policy
Fay Cook, Distinguished Visiting Fellow,
National Academy of Social Insurance, and Professor Emerita and
Director Emerita, Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern
University
Jeff Cruz, Legislative Representative, American
Federation of Government Employees
Indivar Dutta-Gupta, former Executive Director,
Center for Law and Social Policy
Hannah Groch-Begley, Think Tank Director,
Roosevelt Institute
Mia Ives-Rublee, Director of the Disability
Justice Initiative, Center for American Progress
Dom Kelly, Co-Founder, President & CEO, New
Disabled South
Graham MacDonald, Vice President for Technology
and Data Science, Urban Institute
Aparna Mathur, Senior Manager, Economics,
Amazon
Tom Nicholls, Government Affairs Director,
AARP
Shaun O’Brien, Policy Director, American
Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees
Aron Paquette, Vice President, Life Benefits
and Financial Services, UNUM
Rylin Rodgers, Disability Policy Advisor,
Microsoft
Steve Rollins, former SSA Office of Disability
Policy and former director of the Pennsylvania Disability
Determination Services (DDS)
Meilani Santillan, Program Director, Code for
America
Tim Shaw, Policy Director, Aspen Institute
Financial Security Program, Aspen Institute
Jude Soundar, U.S. Government Affairs Federal
Health Director, Microsoft
Emerson Sprick, Economist, Bipartisan Policy
Center
Shelley Washington, Executive Vice President
AFGE 1923 Social Security Administration Headquarters
David Weaver, former SSA executive and
Instructor, University of South Carolina
Darren Webb, Co-Founder and CEO at Mindset
Care, Mindset Care
David Wittenburg, Vice President and Practice
Director for Social Policy and Economics Research, Westat
The National Academy of Social Insurance is a non-profit,
nonpartisan organization made up of the nation’s leading experts on
social insurance. Comprised of over 1,200 members – the nation’s
top experts in social insurance and related programs and policies –
the Academy advances solutions to challenges facing the nation by
providing rigorous inquiry into how social insurance can continue
to meet the changing needs of American families and increasing
public understanding of how social insurance contributes to
economic security.
Tom Novotny
National Academy of Social Insurance
202-243-7281
tnovotny@nasi.org