Google AI could decide who gets unemployment benefits in Nevada

Officials in Nevada plan to use Google’s artificial intelligence system to assist with the appeals process for unemployment benefits, according to a report in Gizmodo. The thinking behind the move is AI can analyze and summarize hearing transcripts and evidentiary documents faster than a human could, and then offer a recommendation on whether the unemployment claim should be approved or denied.

A human being will make the final decision, using the AI’s suggestion as part of the process.

Incorporating AI into the process will help the state chip away at the backlog of cases that have been pending since the height of the pandemic, officials say. What used to take several hours to analyze can now be done in as little as five minutes, though that’s not the case with all appeals.

There are, of course, concerns about this practice. Some parties have voiced concern that relying on AI will mean humans only give cases a perfunctory glance, which could hurt cases that are more nuanced. There are also worries about bias in the machines.

Nevada has been running tests of the system for the past few months, using cases of varying complexity. The state board of examiners liked what it saw and signed a $1 million contract with the tech giant last month, Gizmodo reports. Google will not have access to personal information in the appeals cases and is not allowed to use any of the data to train its Large Language Model for other purposes.

The state is expected to being using AI in its effort to clear the backlog in the coming months, but a precise timeline has not been released.