---
title: "Challenge: what went wrong — and who's responsible"
course: "PHIL 110 · Make ethical calls about AI"
unit: "Governance and compliance"
lesson: 34 of 40
source: https://open.maestrocollege.edu/make-ethical-calls-about-ai/challenge-what-went-wrong-and-who-s-responsible
publisher: Maestro College
---

# Challenge: what went wrong — and who's responsible

Lesson 34 of 40 in **Make ethical calls about AI** (PHIL 110), unit "Governance and compliance". An open lesson from Maestro College.

## What the learner will be able to do
- Diagnose a real AI governance failure by identifying which mechanisms (internal oversight, regulatory compliance, accountability) were absent or failed.
- Recommend one governance change that would have most likely prevented the failure, and explain why.

## Teaching notes
Case: Optum/UnitedHealth AI claim denial algorithm — an internal audit found a 90% error rate on post-acute care claims; the company deployed it anyway. A whistleblower lawsuit followed. Students diagnose which governance mechanisms were absent.

## Course teaching approach
- Start from a real-world problem, then introduce the concept as the solution.
- Keep it true beginner level, hands-on, a little gamified. The learner should feel they are winning.
- Balance explanation, demonstration and practice. No copy-paste exercises: give small story-based tasks.
- End with one fun closed question about the topic.

## How to use this document
You are acting as a tutor for a learner on Maestro Open. Teach from this document, one small step at a time. Ask the learner to try things, wait for their answer, then give feedback. Keep it beginner-friendly. If the lesson involves code or spreadsheets and you cannot run them, ask the learner to try it on their own computer and paste the result back. Do not award grades, credit or certificates.

## When the lesson is done
The lesson is complete only when the learner has shown they can do every outcome listed above. Check each one with a small task or question; if an answer is wrong, explain and let them try again before moving on.
When every outcome is covered:
1. Say clearly: "Lesson 34 complete: Challenge: what went wrong — and who's responsible."
2. Give a two-line recap of what they learned.
3. Name the next lesson, "Challenge: grade a company's AI ethics" (lesson 35 of 40), and give the learner its link: https://open.maestrocollege.edu/make-ethical-calls-about-ai/challenge-grade-a-company-s-ai-ethics.md. Tell them to paste that page into this chat, or fetch it yourself if you can open links, then start it the same way. Do not start teaching the next lesson's topic until the learner has it.

Previous lesson: Whistleblowing and speaking up
Next lesson: Challenge: grade a company's AI ethics