Google has reportedly informed employees that they must allow a third-party AI health tool to access their data in order to receive health benefits. If they refuse, they will not receive health insurance. This move has angered some employees.

According to internal documents reviewed by Business Insider, the company announced this month that US employees who wish to sign up for health benefits through its parent company, Alphabet, during the upcoming enrollment period must authorize the use of an AI tool provided by Nayya, which provides personalized benefit recommendations.

According to guidelines reviewed by Business Insider, if employees refuse to opt in to use Nayya's tool, they will be ineligible for any health benefits. Internal communications show that some employees have asked leadership why they cannot receive health benefits if they choose not to allow Nayya access to their data.

Nayya's tool allows employees to input information about their health and lifestyle and provides recommendations for selected benefits.

"Nayya provides core health plan operational services to optimize your benefits use, so Alphabet Health plan participants cannot fully opt out of third-party data sharing (which is permitted under HIPAA)," Google's internal employee resource page states.

"Opting out of health provider data sharing in the future, during open enrollment or when you experience a qualifying family status change, will result in opting out of Alphabet-provided benefits."

Google spokesperson Courtenay Mencini said that if employees opt in, Nayya will only have access to "standard" employee data, such as demographic information. From there, she said, employees can choose to use the tool, provide more data, or ignore it.

Mencini told Business Insider: "This voluntary tool passed our internal security and privacy review and is intended to help our employees better understand our broad range of health benefit options. Employees must opt ​​in to use the tool and share their health information, as Google cannot access it."

Google employees posted messages on an internal Q&A site asking why they must provide potentially sensitive medical data to an external tool if they want health insurance.

"Why are we providing our medical claims to a third-party AI tool with no way to opt out?" one message asked.

“This is a very dark pattern,” another post read. “I cannot knowingly consent to my data being shared with this company, nor do I want to consent in this way.”

Some employees also voiced their concerns on Memegen, Google’s internal message board. One post read, “Agreeing to an optional feature like ‘Benefits Utilization Optimization’ doesn’t make sense when it’s combined with a required feature like Google Health! The word you’re thinking of is ‘mandatory.’”

A Nayya spokesperson said their tool allows employees who opt in to see how much their deductible has been met and receive personalized plan recommendations. They also said Google conducted a standard security and privacy review of Nayya’s products.

“Nayya is required to protect health data under HIPAA,” Google’s FAQ page about Nayya states, adding that Nayya “does not share, rent, sell, or otherwise disclose” the personally identifiable information it collects.

From Meta to Microsoft, more and more companies are incorporating AI tools into their workplaces. Google is also promoting the use of AI to improve employee productivity. Like Google, companies like Salesforce and Walmart have rolled out AI-powered health and wellness tools, such as Included Health, to their employees.