Lina Khan, chair of the Federal Trade Commission, has compared the power of generative AI to the onset of the Web 2.0 era in the mid-2000s and called for its regulation. In the meantime, she has put the technology to use in contesting a medical bill.
Ms. Khan shared her experience using AI capable of generating text on the New York Times podcast "Hardfork." When asked what early experiences she had with GenAI to inform her thinking, it wasn't drafting emails. It was negotiating healthcare charges.
"I'd read somewhere that somebody had gotten it to very effectively start contesting medical bills, which I had been navigating," Ms. Khan said. "And so I entered some of those prompts and actually got a successful outcome."
"And it worked? You got your bill paid?"
"It worked, yes," Ms. Khan responded to podcast host and New York Times technology columnist Kevin Roose.
Ms. Khan didn't share further detail about her medical bill or the charges in question, nor what prompts she used to dispute the bill.
In May, Ms. Khan penned a roughly 1,000-word op-ed with The New York Times arguing that enforcers and regulators must be vigilant with AI. She said generative AI risks "turbocharging fraud," facilitating collusive behavior in price-setting, and could further cement the market dominance of large incumbent technology companies.
President Joe Biden issued a wide-ranging, 63-page executive order Oct. 30 with new standards for AI safety and security, marking the federal government's first regulations on artificial intelligence systems.