Allstate's proposed retention model charged big spenders more in Maryland
Allstate proposed an auto insurance rate adjustment plan in Maryland using a retention model algorithm that varied premium changes based on existing premiums. The algorithm would have increased rates up to 20% for customers already paying the highest premiums while capping increases at 5% for others, and would have denied meaningful discounts to thousands owed reductions. The Maryland Insurance Administration rejected the plan as discriminatory, but Allstate claims it was withdrawn and has continued proposing similar models elsewhere. The proposal never took effect in Maryland.
- Company involved
- Allstate Corporation
- AI system involved
- retention model
9 source articles · read the reporting →
Study finds Italian car insurers charge more based on birthplace
A study by the Universities of Padua, Udine and Carnegie Mellon found that Italian car insurers, including Genertel, Mps, Quixa and Con.Te, use birthplace and citizenship in pricing algorithms, charging some drivers over €1,000 more. The practice was ruled against in a 2018 decree involving Linear, but the study says it continues. The companies contacted denied or explained the findings.
- Company involved
- Genertel, Mps, Quixa, Con.Te
8 source articles · read the reporting →
Uber algorithm reinforced gender pay gap in compensation offers to new hires
Uber used an algorithm to determine compensation offers for new hires, allegedly paying women less than men for similar roles. The algorithm was designed to protect existing shareholders and save money, but it reinforced existing gender pay gaps. The system is now being altered, according to The Information.
- Company involved
- Uber
7 source articles · read the reporting →
DeepScore markets facial and voice analysis app for trustworthiness scoring despite experts' doubts
DeepScore, a Tokyo-based company, is marketing an app that uses facial and voice recognition to score people's trustworthiness for lenders and insurers in Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. The company says the app can detect deception with 70 per cent accuracy, but researchers and privacy advocates say there is no reliable scientific basis for such judgments and warn of discrimination and privacy harms. The chief executive said the system is only one part of lenders' and insurers' decision-making and that people can choose not to use it. Critics respond that an unequal balance of power makes consent difficult.
- Company involved
- DeepScore
- AI system involved
- DeepScore
6 source articles · read the reporting →
Lemonade backtracks on tweet claiming AI scans customer faces for fraud
Lemonade, an insurance firm, posted a tweet claiming it uses AI to detect non-verbal cues in customer videos to deny claims. After backlash comparing the practice to phrenology, the company deleted the tweet and denied using AI to deny claims based on facial characteristics. Lemonade stated it uses facial recognition only to flag claims submitted under different identities, which are then reviewed by human investigators.
- Company involved
- Lemonade
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Hospitals use Epic AI to predict Covid-19 decline without validation
Dozens of hospitals across the US are using Epic's deterioration index AI system to predict which Covid-19 patients will become critically ill, despite the tool not being validated for the new disease. The rapid deployment during the pandemic bypassed normal testing and validation processes.
- AI system involved
- Deterioration index
9 source articles · read the reporting →
University of Chicago report finds US healthcare algorithms rife with bias
A University of Chicago report alleges that algorithms used by hospitals, insurers and other businesses across the US are biased along racial and economic lines. The algorithms help triage patients, predict diabetes and flag those needing extra care, but the report says flawed products were introduced with little oversight. It says inequitable treatment has continued for more than a decade.
7 source articles · read the reporting →
Joann LeDoux v. Outliers, Inc. (2) (W.D. Washington): AI-hallucinated content in court filing, Expert Brief excluded/struck
The AI-generated hallucinated citations in an expert report led to the exclusion of the expert and dismissal of the plaintiff's case.
1 source article · read the reporting →
Denmark's Udbetaling Danmark welfare algorithm illegally surveilled millions
Udbetaling Danmark (UDK), Denmark's centralized welfare payment agency, used automated algorithms to check eligibility and detect fraud. The system collected personal data on millions of beneficiaries and their relatives, including non-beneficiaries, in what a think-tank called 'systematic surveillance'. A complaint to the Danish Data Protection Authority led to a ruling that the data collection violated GDPR, and UDK eventually deleted the illegally obtained data. The system also caused erroneous payments, including underpaying 300,000 pensioners by 94 million euros annually.
- Company involved
- Udbetaling Danmark
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Amazon sellers lose thousands after RepricerExpress pricing glitch
A software glitch in RepricerExpress's automated repricing system caused products sold by Amazon sellers to be priced at 1p, leading to significant financial losses for the sellers. RepricerExpress apologised but did not offer compensation, while Amazon said it had reached out to affected sellers but many reported no response. Some sellers have instructed lawyers to take legal action against RepricerExpress and Amazon.
- Company involved
- RepricerExpress
- AI system involved
- RepricerExpress
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Natural England biodiversity metric undervalues rewilding habitats
Natural England published a new biodiversity net gain metric in July 2021 that uses an algorithm to score habitat value. Ecologists and conservationists warned that the metric misclassifies scrubby and ruderal habitats as degraded, potentially undervaluing rewilding projects like Knepp estate and leading to inadequate compensation for habitat loss. The article claims the metric could blight hundreds of thousands of sites and penalise rewilding-style management.
- Company involved
- Natural England
- AI system involved
- Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) metric
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Danish law enables algorithm to profile unemployed for long-term risk
The Danish parliament passed a law in April 2019 that allows an algorithm to analyse personal data of all unemployed individuals to identify those at risk of long-term unemployment. The system uses data on ethnicity, age, health, and education history to produce a risk score for social workers. Critics, including legal experts and unemployment insurance funds, argue the profiling is stigmatising, lacks transparency, and may violate GDPR. The Danish Data Protection Authority has reopened its review of the law.
- Company involved
- Danish Ministry of Employment
10 source articles · read the reporting →
LoanDepot algorithm denied mortgage to Black couple in Charlotte
In August 2019, Crystal Marie and Eskias McDaniels, a Black couple, were denied a mortgage for a house in Charlotte, North Carolina, by loanDepot's automated underwriting algorithm. The algorithm rejected the application because Crystal Marie was a contractor, not a full-time employee, despite her high credit score and income. After the couple enlisted their real estate agent and employer to intervene, the lender reversed the decision and cleared them to close. The couple alleged that race played a role in the denial, which loanDepot denied.
- Company involved
- loanDepot
- AI system involved
- Classic FICO and Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac automated underwriting software
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Company fires HR team after ATS auto-rejects manager's CV due to filtering error
A company's applicant tracking system (ATS) auto-rejected qualified candidates' resumes for three months because it was filtering for the outdated framework AngularJS instead of the required Angular framework. The manager discovered the flaw by submitting his own CV under a pseudonym and found it was rejected within seconds. After the manager reported the issue to upper management, the company investigated and dismissed half of its HR team. No legal action or regulatory involvement is reported.
4 source articles · read the reporting →
UnitedHealthcare sued for using AI to deny Medicare Advantage patients care
A class action complaint alleges that UnitedHealthcare and its subsidiary naviHealth deployed an artificial intelligence model to override treating physicians' determinations of medically necessary care for elderly Medicare Advantage patients. The complaint claims the AI model has a known 90% error rate and wrongfully denied patients care. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, seeks damages on behalf of the estates of two deceased patients and all others similarly situated.
- Company involved
- UnitedHealthcare, Inc.
10 source articles · read the reporting →
UnitedHealth used ALERT algorithm to limit mental health coverage, regulators found
ProPublica reports that UnitedHealth Group's Optum subsidiary used the ALERT algorithm to flag mental health patients and therapists as outliers, leading to therapy coverage denials. Regulators in California, Massachusetts and New York alleged this breached the federal Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, and UnitedHealth agreed to restrict the system in those jurisdictions. The company denies wrongdoing and says its programmes are compliant. Affected patients, including Medicaid enrollees, were left to pay out-of-pocket or go without care.
- Company involved
- UnitedHealth Group
- AI system involved
- ALERT
5 source articles · read the reporting →
EviCore denied heart catheterization for patient using algorithm
In fall 2021, Little John Cupp's doctor requested a left heart catheterization exam. EviCore, a company hired by UnitedHealthcare, denied the request twice using an algorithm called 'the dial' that adjusts thresholds for review. The algorithm flagged the request for review, and EviCore's doctors determined it was not medically necessary. Cupp did not receive the procedure and his symptoms continued.
- Company involved
- EviCore (a Cigna company)
- AI system involved
- the dial
6 source articles · read the reporting →
Humana sued for using AI to deny seniors rehabilitation care
Health insurer Humana is accused in a class-action lawsuit of using an AI algorithm to systematically deny rehabilitation care to Medicare Advantage patients, despite recommendations from their doctors. The lawsuit, filed on December 12, 2023, alleges that the AI tool restricted medically necessary care. This is the second major health insurer to face legal action over its use of AI to deny care.
- Company involved
- Humana
9 source articles · read the reporting →
Judge rules lawsuit over UnitedHealth’s AI care denials can move forward - STAT
The system denied necessary medical care to Medicare Advantage beneficiaries.
- Company involved
- UnitedHealth Group
1 source article · read the reporting →
Cigna StressWaves Test found unreliable and invalid in independent study
A study published in Scientific Reports evaluated the Cigna StressWaves Test (CSWT), an AI tool that claims to assess psychological stress from speech. The study found that the CSWT had poor test-retest reliability and poor validity compared to the Perceived Stress Scale. The authors warned that widespread availability of the tool could lead to misleading results and negative consequences for users making healthcare decisions. Cigna has not publicly responded to the findings.
- Company involved
- Cigna
- AI system involved
- Cigna StressWaves Test
4 source articles · read the reporting →
California EDD's automated fraud detection wrongly suspended 600,000 legitimate unemployment claims
In January 2021, the California Employment Development Department used Thompson Reuters automated batch review software to flag 1.1 million unemployment claims as potentially fraudulent. EDD stopped payments on those claims without prior notice. Later, over 600,000 were confirmed as legitimate after claimants used ID.me to verify their identity. The incident highlights the trade-off between fraud prevention and timely benefit access.
- Company involved
- California Employment Development Department (EDD)
- AI system involved
- Thompson Reuters Automated Batch Review
7 source articles · read the reporting →
EvenUp AI errors in personal injury demand letters lead to scrutiny
EvenUp, a legal tech startup valued at $1 billion, uses AI to draft personal injury demand letters. Former employees revealed that the AI system frequently makes errors, including missing injuries and fabricating medical conditions. The company defends its hybrid approach with human oversight, but critics allege overpromised AI capabilities.
- Company involved
- EvenUp
6 source articles · read the reporting →
Swedish welfare agency's AI system flags marginalized groups for fraud investigations
Försäkringskassan, Sweden's Social Insurance Agency, uses an AI risk-scoring system to flag welfare applicants for fraud investigations. The system disproportionately targets women, individuals with foreign backgrounds, low-income earners, and those without university degrees, according to an investigation by Lighthouse Reports and Svenska Dagbladet. Amnesty International has called for the system to be discontinued, citing violations of the right to equality and non-discrimination.
- Company involved
- Försäkringskassan (Swedish Social Insurance Agency)
6 source articles · read the reporting →
CJEU rules Dun & Bradstreet must explain automated credit decisions under GDPR
A customer was refused a mobile phone contract because of an automated credit assessment by Dun & Bradstreet Austria. The customer took the case to court, which found that Dun & Bradstreet had infringed the GDPR by failing to provide meaningful information about the logic involved. The CJEU ruled that data controllers must explain automated decisions and that trade secrets cannot automatically override the right of access.
- Company involved
- Dun & Bradstreet Austria GmbH
7 source articles · read the reporting →
