MSM fuelling lie that DWP claimants are cheating the system with AI

The shitrag corporate media are fueling more lies about disabled people defrauding the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) benefits system, this time it’s involving AI.

Media doing the DWP’s job for them

The i Paper ran with the story:

The new PIP mistake making the DWP more suspicious of claimants than ever

‘Dangerous’ over-dependence on AI tools leaves disabled people using wrong or irrelevant information on their forms, say benefits advisers

Basically more DWP propaganda about how disabled people are trying to cheat their way to stealing taxpayers money.

If you look deeper into the story this becomes even clearer. And as usual it’s all an exercise to excuse the DWP’s own failures and bullshit.

The i continued:

The DWP is currently engaged in a Freedom of Information (FOI) battle to prevent the release of training manuals that PIP assessors use with “hidden” conditions, such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

According to FOI documents, the Government has argued that people may use them in combination with AI tools to “craft responses or scripts that mirror the exact requirements needed to score highly”.

The real story here is that the DWP thinks people may fake kidney failure using their own guidance. But now that’s being picked up by the mainstream media, they’re seemingly trying to cover their tracks even more. Conveniently they’ve also thrown AI into the mix, which is a hot topic at the minute.

It also needs pointing out that the FOI battle the DWP are locked in is about the severe conditions criteria (SCC) for the Work Capability Assessment, not PIP. But why let that spoil a good “disability fakers are at it again” story.

This is obviously just another iteration of “fraudsters sharing tricks on TikTok”, but of course the disability hating media lapped it up.

Media missing the point, again

Thankfully the i also featured benefits experts who politely called out the media’s bullshit. However they mainly shared the same viewpoint and expressed concern for people doing this. The worries included that people relying too heavily on ChatGPT will accidentally include false information that could either make them commit fraud or stop them getting benefits.

In one absolutely absurd part of the article, Michelle Cardno, founder of Fightback4Justice claims it will hinder assessment because:

Assessors want a complete picture – good days and bad days

This is so laughably, demonstrably untrue that anyone who’s gone through an assessment can tell you the reviews completely lack nuance.

The article, however, never once addressed why people feel that they have to use AI. Mainly that the PIP is such a difficult benefit to qualify for that unless you say the exactly right thing you risk losing support. The system is so stringent that it doesn’t allow for chronic illness fluctuations. There’s also the fact that the form is 40 pages long. For someone with limited energy or conditions affecting their intellectual abilities, it feels deliberate.

AI undoubtedly can be bad news and for someone in a creative industry, it’s terrifying how much it’s being relied on. However, for disabled people it can be an important accessibility tool.

AI can be used to create summaries, make your tired ramblings make sense and translate voice notes to text. Whilst AI is definitely causing harm, we also can’t ignore that when used in circumstances like this, instead of shitty art, it has a place.

And when you’re already up against it in a system which wants to trip you up whilst claiming to support you, any tools that make that easier can’t be disregarded.

DWP are hypocrites

What’s missing from this that once again is that DWP are hypocrites. Because while they don’t want people using AI to fill in the forms, they use AI to make benefits decisions. This is despite findings that AI use is much more likely to target vulnerable claimants.

This is clearly just another in a long line of the media doing the government’s job for them when it comes to turning the public against disabled people. And as usual the media is more than happy to use us for clicks.

Featured image via screenshot