Just what the doctor ordered

'Kia ora," said the text message from the AI, "your ACC claim has been No human had needed to read my explanation that I had injured my back bending badly to stack the dishwasher on a Sunday morning.

- Russell Brown

It was one of the 90% of ACC claims approved by the corporation's algorithmic decision system, which was deployed in 2018 after being trained on 12 million claims processed by ACC staff between 2010 and 2016. Its job is only to approve claims if a claim is "complex", it must be scrutinised and accepted or declined by a human. The computer cannot say "no", although I'm always faintly surprised it can read my handwriting.

In short, I have sprained a couple of lower vertebrae and it is painful and disabling. So it was a happy accident that my cannabis was ready for collection.

Having written extensively about the Medicinal Cannabis Scheme, I recently decided that I should actually go through the process at a dedicated clinic and get myself a prescription. After completing an online questionnaire that asked what other medicines I took and whether I had any history of psychosis, I was able to book a phone consultation. I ticked the box allowing my GP to be notified.