BiasMedium
VA Suicide Prevention Algorithm REACH VET Reportedly Prioritizes Men Over Women Veterans
- Occurred
- May 23, 2024
- Published
- May 27, 2024
- Source
- AI Incident Database
Summary
An AI program named REACH VET, designed and used by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to prevent veteran suicides, was reportedly found to prioritize white men while neglecting female veterans and survivors of military sexual trauma. This oversight persists despite rising suicide rates among these groups. The incident is an example of algorithmic bias and the exclusion of critical risk factors for female veterans.
Developers
- Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Deployers
- Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Harmed parties
- Veterans
- Survivors of military sexual trauma
- Women and girls
- Women
- Emotionally vulnerable individuals
Classification
Category confidence: 95%
Severity confidence: 90%
Rationale: Algorithm prioritizes men over women veterans, causing disparate impact on suicide prevention outcomes.
Classifier: Qwen/Qwen3.5-35B-A3B-FP8