DOGE used flawed AI tool to “munch” Veterans Affairs contracts

As the Trump administration prepared to cancel contracts at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), a software engineer without prior healthcare or government experience developed an AI tool to identify non-essential services, mistakenly flagging many contracts for removal. The "DOGE AI" tool flagged over 2,000 contracts as "munchable," though only about two dozen have been canceled so far. Among the eliminated contracts were critical ones supporting cancer treatments and research at the VA. ProPublica uncovered flaws in the AI code after obtaining it and shared its findings with experts, who criticized both the tool's accuracy and the broader use of AI to cut budgets at the VA.