At the beginning of May, Frank Bisignano was officially elected as the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA), after being nominated for the position by President Donald Trump in January. Bisignano was previously the CEO of Finserv, a financial services company.
Over the course of the year thus far, the SSA has undergone a slew of changes, some driven by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Amongst these changes has been the decision to reduce the workforce and close certain offices. As a result, complaints regarding service delivery began to pour in with many beneficiaries struggling to get through to a representative when using the agency phone line.
In pursuit of aiding this issue of lengthy wait times when phoning in to the SSA, the new Commissioner Frank Bisignano has revealed plans to address the issue through the use of artificial intelligence.
What is the SSA Commissioner planning?
Around seventy million Americans and counting are reliant on their monthly Social Security benefit checks to cover their living expenses. Providing timeous service delivery to such a large volume of beneficiaries during a time where cutbacks are being enacted at the agency can likely prove to be challenging. The SSA receives an overwhelming number of calls each day. According to SSA data, “the agency gets about 390,000 calls per day. The average wait time for those calls as of April was 68 minutes, down from 112 minutes in January.”
“We’re bringing a massive technology effort to transform the servicing agenda,” SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano said in an interview with CBS. “We’re gonna bring AI into the phone system…I intend it to be completed this year.”
In March, the SSA announced that identity verification would no longer be able to be completed over the phone and as such, beneficiaries would have to visit their nearest field office. This decision sparked major backlash as it would cause additional travel time and could prove to be a difficult task for many beneficiaries, especially those who do not live near a field office. According to an analysis from the Center on Budget and Public Policies, going to a field office would mean “a 45-mile trip for some 6 million seniors nationwide.” Subsequently, the plan was rolled back.
The introduction of artificial intelligence on the telephone line may prove to be difficult to navigate for those who are less technologically adept, however. In this regard, Bisignano asserted, “I say, we’re gonna meet our beneficiaries where they want to be. You want to come into a field office? We we’ll always be there. You want to meet us on the web? We will be there. And you want to meet us on the phone, we’ll be there.”
Additionally, it remains to be revealed exactly how the artificial intelligence will be incorporated into the SSA’s phone line.
More cuts at the agency?
In February, the SSA revealed plans to reduce its workforce by 12% which would bring the employee count down to 50,000. When asked about how these changes would play out with a reduced workforce, Bisignano assured that efficiency at the agency would not be affected, and the SSA would fulfill its duties “through technology and process engineering.”
Many seniors have begun to show signs of concern regarding the future of the agency as it appears to be on the cusp of financial troubles. According to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, the fund through which retirement and survivor benefits are paid is projected to be depleted by 2033, less than a decade from now. In the event of this fund becoming exhausted, the SSA will no longer be able to pay beneficiaries their full benefit amounts.
“There’s lots of senators that I’ve heard from that have all ideas about how to fix it. So, we need to just go to work on how to fix it,” Bisignano said to CBS. “Everybody is committed to Social Security for the rest of time.”