INSS uses ‘robots’ to try to reduce the queue of benefits, says union

The use of artificial intelligence by the INSS (National Institute of Social Security) in the granting of social security benefits with the intention of reducing the queue of requests has led to a high rate of negative responses to the insured, according to information from the SINSSP (Sindicato dos Trabalhadores do Seguro and Social Security in the State of São Paulo).

The measure has been called “automatic denial” by the civil servants, alluding to the automatic granting of benefits initiated by the institute in May 2018. In it, the insured makes the request and, if there is the right after the “robot” scans the worker’s social security situation, there is a concession.

If it is not possible to release the benefit due to lack of documents, a public official is called and a procedure called compliance with a requirement is opened, in which the worker needs to send documentation proving the right. After this process, the social security income is released or not.

According to Vilma Ramos, director of the union, “robots” are being used to scan the order queue and give an answer to the insured as soon as possible. The concern, however, is with the high rate of denials, of at least 300,000 benefits denied in the last three months, according to union statistics.

Dataprev (a federal government technology company) claims that it uses an artificial intelligence system capable of deferring or denying benefits. The agency says that, in this case, it is not specifically about robots, but a tool that, coupled with Meu INSS, automatically grants or refuses.

“Based on the citizen’s CPF number, the system consults the applicant’s entire working life and submits the information to analysis for granting the benefit. For example, contribution time and insured person quality are calculated.”

Assistance benefits are targeted

The unionist says that, with the use of robots and the increase in denials, the most needy policyholders, who ask for the BCP/Loas (Benefit of Continued Provision, of the Organic Law of Social Assistance), are the most affected. That’s because, according to Vilma, they are the ones who are waiting in line the longest and end up being the target of the action of artificial intelligence.

“The bottleneck of the INSS is in the assistance benefits. In the case of these automatic denials, the benefits that are being most affected are those, from the people who need it most. They go in line, check which benefits are dammed for the longest and then trigger the robot.”

One of the basic requirements to have the BPC is to be in the CadÚnico (Single Registry) of the federal government. “If it is not in CadÚnico, the robot identifies and denies it, without this guidance being given to the insured”, he says. Vilma considers that the denial may be undue, since there was no server analysis for the case.

In a note, Dataprev states that “the application is only dispatched automatically when the available information allows for an unequivocal conclusion to be granted or rejected”, within the legal norms of the INSS, and also says that the “artificial intelligence developed by Dataprev does not replace the INSS analysts’ decision-making process; it only screens simple cases”.

The latest INSS data show that the queue of benefit requests reached 1.6 million in March, 200,000 less than at the beginning of the year. However, information from Social Security shows that, in February, there were more than one million citizens waiting for assistance in the medical expert queue alone. The union also says that, after the beginning of the strike of the category, the queue reaches two million requests.

Artificial intelligence began to be used about 20 years ago

The use of artificial intelligence at the INSS dates back to the first decade of the 2000s, when, around 2008, the institute began to use technological means to identify the right to retirement by age. At that time, the insured who reached the minimum age and had the minimum grace period (15 years of contribution) received a letter informing that he could now apply for retirement.

In 2018, the automatic granting of benefits began. But for the union, the strategy is currently different. “The logic of the automatic concession was to recognize the insured’s right. Not today. Today, the goal is to end up with the stock. The system is scanned, checks if you have the right and, if you don’t, reject it. automatic rejection”, says Vilma.

In a message sent to Congress with the provisional measure 1,113, which establishes a fine-tooth comb in the benefits, the government indicates its concern with the queue and states that automation is a way of trying to reduce it.

“The reduction of the damming of the stock of social security benefits has been pursued by the federal government since the beginning of 2019. The automation and digitization of requirements, the modernization of flows and routines in work processes and contracting for a determined period, were measures that brought positive results”, says the document.

Normative instruction changed rule for denials

Normative instruction 128, of March 29 this year, changed the rules on the denial of benefits, which can harm the insured and directly affects denials made through artificial intelligence.

According to IN, when the insured’s request is denied due to lack of essential documentation for the concession, there will be no recourse to the CRPS (Regional Social Security Council), which could reverse the denial. The request, in this case, is filed, and the insured will have to file a new request, leaving behind the arrears to which he would be entitled.

Lawyer Adriane Bramante, president of the IBDP (Brazilian Institute of Social Security Law), says that the insured who has a request rejected by the INSS should be aware and try to reverse the denial in any way. It guides the worker to file an appeal, even if the law says there is no right.

“You have the right to file an appeal. If you made an application and did not present any element that does not allow analysis of the right, you must be summoned for the demand. The law says that, if the INSS rejects it for this reason, there is no appeal, but, in fact, the INSS is not competent to say whether the appeal is appropriate or not, since the rejection is up to the Appeals Council.”

For Roberto de Carvalho Santos, from Ieprev (Institute of Social Security Studies), the denial of benefits through “robots” further restrict the rights of the insured.

“Artificial intelligence has been used to facilitate, an example is in the Judiciary. But the decision taken by a robot without this being highlighted and made clear to the citizen is absurd from the point of view of the dignity of the human person. The robot does not will be able to do that human analysis of granting the most favorable benefit”, he says.

Investment in technology is still low, says IBDP

For Adriane, the flaws in the INSS must be remedied with investment in hiring servers, training employees and even more improvements in the technological area, which has flaws and prevents the progress of requests in the body.

According to the union, there are currently 19,500 employees in the agency, but at least 30,000 would be needed to cope with the pent-up demand for orders. Vilma also points out that it is necessary to invest in the training of new hires, but says that there is no provision for a contest.

INSS administrative employees started a strike on March 23 and are still idly by. As most of them work from home, the stoppage consists, in this case, of not meeting the established goals. In addition, employees complain that the Meu INSS system, used in concessions, is flawed and causes even more delays.

A survey by the IBDP shows that, even with the use of artificial intelligence, the investment in technology in the INSS is lower compared to other agencies. The study compares the amounts destined to the Federal Revenue and the institute. Even with the 2022 cuts, the budget for the tax authorities is estimated at R$ 1.3 billion and, for the INSS, at R$ 453 million.

“The social security reform, approved in 2019, aggravated the problems. New rules were created, many of them extremely complex, and Dataprev does not seem to be able to keep up with all the changes”, says Emerson Lemes, director of the IBDP.

“These data say a lot about the problems faced by both servers and policyholders”, he says.