AI and Social Security—Perfect Together? Maybe Not! | AMAC
The headlong rush into artificial intelligence (AI) these days produces a steady stream of new players. As a concept though, AI dates back several decades, with a simple mission of using computer science and robust datasets to enable problem-solving. The mission naturally evolved over time, leading to the formation of Open AI in 2015 and eventually its 2022 launch of ChatGPT, the chatbot that seems to be the signal that AI had arrived!
Put simply, AI is intended to efficiently solve problems, answer questions, and make decisions based on the analysis of large amounts of data. That certainly suits the world of Social Security, with the need to understand options amidst thousands of rules and tens of thousands of pages of arcane documentation explaining these rules and their myriad qualifiers and exceptions. One would think the use of creating machines that can understand and communicate with humans in natural language would clearly demystify the complex and cumbersome world of Social Security and make it simple to apply the rules to everyday circumstances. Maybe, maybe not.
Challenges in Using AI for Social Security
Our AMAC Foundation Social Security Advisory Service recently handled an inquiry from a caller asking for a second opinion. He had posed a relatively simple question to ChatGPT: "If my wife claims her retirement benefit early, will she be able to switch to half of my benefit when she reaches full retirement age?" ChatGPT said sure, no problem, and that would have been correct if the question dealt with survivor benefits rather than retirement benefits.
The point that was missed in the data crunching was that the question was based on the “file and suspend” loophole that had been removed years ago and replaced with the “deemed filing” rule stipulating that, when filing, the wife is claiming all benefits available to her, with reductions due to filing before full retirement age (FRA). This rule would preclude her from getting fully half of her spouse’s FRA benefit amount.
The correct application of Social Security rules is a situational process, with nuances based on each individual’s circumstances. AI shows promise, of course, but we may still be quite far from the point of simply accepting machine-generated decisions without question. In the situation described here, the caller was wise to seek a qualified second opinion, and our Advisory Service is a logical place to provide that!
To learn more about the AMAC Foundation’s service, visit AmacFoundation.org/Services.
