ACLU Raises Concerns, Wants Answers About Michigan’s Use of AI to Determine Food Benefits for Low-Income Families

DETROIT – In a letter to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), the ACLU of Michigan (ACLU) raises concerns about the department’s reported use of artificial intelligence to evaluate eligibility for the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP). The program provides low-income families with food benefits that are essential to the economic well-being of hundreds of thousands of Michigan children and their families.

In March testimony to a state Senate subcommittee, MDHHS reportedly indicated that it had deployed an “AI case reading tool” that will allow the department to “scan every single case in a perfect environment” and to target cases that are possibly fraudulent. The ACLU letter warns that relying on AI could result in both eligible applicants being denied benefits they are entitled to and people in need wrongly being cut off from benefits they are already receiving.

“It appears that AI is now playing some significant role—although how significant remains murky—in decisions about who gets to keep their benefits, and who loses them,” the ACLU said in its letter.

Because important details about how AI will be used have not been disclosed, the ACLU submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request as part of its letter. Among many other things, the civil rights organization wants to see documents that show if MDHHS complied with federal guidelines requiring the disclosure of AI’s impact prior to adopting such technology. Additionally, the FOIA request seeks documents discussing instances in which AI tools used by MDHSS produced inaccurate, false, fabricated, or unreliable output, along with any other risks Michigan residents may face as a result of AI-driven benefit assessments Also requested are documents explaining exactly how MDHSS’s AI technology works, and how MDHSS and its staff use the technology.

The letter also noted:

“The last time Michigan trusted technology to make decisions about applications for public benefits and make fraud assessments, the Michigan Integrated Data System (“MiDAS”) wrongfully accused approximately 40,000 people of unemployment fraud, which resulted in thousands of wrongful denials. This was widely reported to have led to suicides, bankruptcies, the destruction of the household economics of countless Michigan families, and tens of millions of dollars in legal liability for the State because of the technology’s flagrant misuse.

“Michigan cannot afford to repeat that disaster, and the most vulnerable Michiganders cannot afford to be subjected to such a disaster—especially with respect to food assistance that families depend on to survive,” the ACLU said in its letter.

Phil Mayor, ACLU of Michigan deputy legal director, said this about the letter and FOIA:

“Given the fiasco Michigan experienced when it used computer-reliant decision making for unemployment insurance benefits, it is a real concern that AI is now involved in deciding who does or doesn’t get help putting food on their family’s table. Decisions like this should not be made behind the scenes, as seems to have happened here. We urge the state to be fully transparent when it comes to the use of AI for a program that is crucial to the well-being of more than 1.4 million Michiganders trying to survive this economy on a low income.”

Read the full Letter/FOIA Request here.