Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, questioned Doug Collins, in his confirmation hearing for veterans affairs secretary before the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs on Tuesday.
King warned Collins against using artificial intelligence to decide veterans’ benefits. Collins said he didn’t want to take AI “off the table” if using it meant veterans would get their benefits quicker.
King said he didn’t want veterans to go through claims litigation to “overturn a decision of a machine somewhere.”
“It will be very tempting to reduce staff and replace it with this technology,” the senator said, “but I’m not confident in the technology right now to be making these life-and-death decisions for our veterans.”
Collins said he respected King’s position, adding that these are decisions that could be made by “how we look at the best efficiencies.”
Collins is a colonel and chaplain in the U.S. Air Force Reserve Command who was stationed in Iraq in 2008. The former lawmaker, who is also a lawyer, was one of President Donald Trump’s defenders in his first impeachment case during his first term. During his time in Congress, Collins did not serve on the House Veterans Affairs Committee.
Watch PBS News for daily, breaking and live news, plus special coverage. We are home to PBS News Hour, ranked the most credible and objective TV news show.
Newsletters: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/subscribe
PBS News podcasts: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/podcasts
Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app: https://to.pbs.org/2Jb8twG
Find more from PBS News at https://www.pbs.org/newshour
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2HfsCD6
Follow us:
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pbsnews
X: http://www.twitter.com/newshour
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/newshour
Facebook: http://www.pbs.org/newshour
