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Deloitte to refund the Australian government after using AI in $440k report

theguardian.com

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Re: Deloitte to refund the Australian government after using AI in $440k report

#121

Post by trollbridge »

For a bit of background, this report concerned a problematic IT system that was incorrectly sending life-ruining fines to people for not meeting their requirements to apply for so many jobs, accept jobs, etc. whilst on government assistance. The fines came in the form of a judgment debt so people would literally have a debt bailiff show up and start carting their property away. Due to a seriously flawed IT system, this even happened to people who weren't on any government benefits at all.

So, a report gets commissioned that a company like Deloitte gets paid $440k for, and then they cheat and use AI to generate it, complete with more errors. Imagine what would happen if they retained Deloitte next to build the system. I foresee another repeat of the Fujitsu Royal Mail scandal.

Re: Deloitte to refund the Australian government after using AI in $440k report

#122

Post by trollbridge »

JCM9 wrote: post #106

CEOs keep taking (mostly misguided) about how GenAI will replace their people. The thing they miss, and this highlights, is that customers will also expect to pay far less for GenAI produced workloads, which likely more than eliminates any cost savings. Congrats clueless CEO… you’re now selling a worse product at lower margins. Success!

This particular report concerned paying benefits (or not paying them) to unemployed people trying to find work - in other words, the very people who allegedly will be losing their jobs to AI.

Re: Deloitte to refund the Australian government after using AI in $440k report

#123

Post by trollbridge »

arethuza wrote: post #116
decimalenough wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From my experience with using a $WITCH for a large support engagement, the A team woos you, the B team is what you get initially, and as soon as they think you've got your eye off the ball, they swap in the Z team. This was for a contract where we made it very clear that quality/skill was paramount and we would happily pay above market rates forever if they could maintain it. Of course they got greedy and lost the de…

Or A subcontracts to B who subcontracts with C and A tries to keep all of this secret until team C end up being involved in a war...

Yep. War is one of those things where it doesn't matter how much subcontractor B is yelling at subcontractors C on the phone and telling them to lie about their names.

I used to tell the prime contractor to just be honest. They couldn't even do that. Most of my business now comes from clients of A who have been burned badly and now physically meet the person who will actually be doing the work.

Re: Deloitte to refund the Australian government after using AI in $440k report

#124

Post by trollbridge »

thelastgallon wrote: post #97
rhetocj23 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s exactly how it works.

I've learnt this truth recently with most professions. Consultations with attorney based on rave reviews, after signing up, get assigned a random attorney from the firm. One attorney instantly sold my case to another attorney! Just started talking to chiropractor (i know! same as astrology), same trick! I haven't seen this yet in doctors offices. I see a doctor at an office specialized in an area (say gastrointestina…

The quality of chiropractors varies so wildly that I would refuse to be treated by a new chiropractor that got bait-and-switched like that.

Re: Deloitte to refund the Australian government after using AI in $440k report

#125

Post by trollbridge »

DrScientist wrote: post #62
DrScientist wrote: post #59

While we are on the topic of listing problems with consultants/outsourcing - another potential problem is the A team/ B team switch. During initial engagement you are often talking to somebody who appears to actually know their stuff - you hire them and find that this knowledgable person has moved on to the next big sales, and you've got the B or C team.

To balance that with a positive comment - one of the reasons for going with a consultant/outsourcing is if you have a big one/off type project that you can't resource internally with perms. So the choice is trying to hire a bunch of individual contractors and forge them into a team, or hire a pre-built team for a period of time [1] [1] Sometimes it's sold as a re-built team - but in reality it might be hired in exact…

I've never understood the "can't resource internally with perms" argument. Hire people to do the job, and then lay them off when the project is over. These projects often last for years and frequently go over budget.

Re: Deloitte to refund the Australian government after using AI in $440k report

#126

Post by favflam »

JCM9 wrote: post #106

CEOs keep taking (mostly misguided) about how GenAI will replace their people. The thing they miss, and this highlights, is that customers will also expect to pay far less for GenAI produced workloads, which likely more than eliminates any cost savings. Congrats clueless CEO… you’re now selling a worse product at lower margins. Success!

Just to add to this, customers are paying for a human to take responsibility for getting a job done. An amorphous "AI" cannot take responsibility and therefore does not merit the funds being spent on things like this report.

Re: Deloitte to refund the Australian government after using AI in $440k report

#127

Post by heyjamesknight »

trollbridge wrote: post #125
DrScientist wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To balance that with a positive comment - one of the reasons for going with a consultant/outsourcing is if you have a big one/off type project that you can't resource internally with perms. So the choice is trying to hire a bunch of individual contractors and forge them into a team, or hire a pre-built team for a period of time [1] [1] Sometimes it's sold as a re-built team - but in reality it might be hired in exact…

I've never understood the "can't resource internally with perms" argument. Hire people to do the job, and then lay them off when the project is over. These projects often last for years and frequently go over budget.

Layoffs have a significant morale impact for the rest of the company that lasts months or even years afterwards. You should not hire FTEs you intend to fire.

Re: Deloitte to refund the Australian government after using AI in $440k report

#128

Post by DrScientist »

trollbridge wrote: post #125
DrScientist wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To balance that with a positive comment - one of the reasons for going with a consultant/outsourcing is if you have a big one/off type project that you can't resource internally with perms. So the choice is trying to hire a bunch of individual contractors and forge them into a team, or hire a pre-built team for a period of time [1] [1] Sometimes it's sold as a re-built team - but in reality it might be hired in exact…

I've never understood the "can't resource internally with perms" argument. Hire people to do the job, and then lay them off when the project is over. These projects often last for years and frequently go over budget.

How difficult expensive that is depends on the country you are in - not all countries have a fire-at-will type legal system.

Also having frequent rounds of firings impacts company culture - making it much more transactional ( everyone for themselves ) - some companies value their employees and culture and the collaboration and long term thinking that can bring.

One option that's increasingly common is hiring people on fix term contracts - however that does create a sort of divide.

Re: Deloitte to refund the Australian government after using AI in $440k report

#129

Post by Hoasi »

JCM9 wrote: post #106

CEOs keep taking (mostly misguided) about how GenAI will replace their people. The thing they miss, and this highlights, is that customers will also expect to pay far less for GenAI produced workloads, which likely more than eliminates any cost savings. Congrats clueless CEO… you’re now selling a worse product at lower margins. Success!

"We can drive the value of a service towards zero and create additional value at the same time," was the thinking here.

Re: Deloitte to refund the Australian government after using AI in $440k report

#130

Post by gdulli »

trollbridge wrote: post #121

For a bit of background, this report concerned a problematic IT system that was incorrectly sending life-ruining fines to people for not meeting their requirements to apply for so many jobs, accept jobs, etc. whilst on government assistance. The fines came in the form of a judgment debt so people would literally have a debt bailiff show up and start carting their property away. Due to a seriously flawed IT system, th…

You don't have to imagine: https://cybernews.com/news/rhode-island-deloitte-data-breach...
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