Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

theguardian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 240 posts

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

#131

Post by DrScientist »

belter wrote: post #86
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.

I have heard this before, but my experience when working as Consultant, is that Customers will do a lot of diligence before accepting a substitute. Maybe these are Contractors and not Consultants? ;-)

The above is really aimed at large consultancy firms, implementing large projects.

If it's a small firm or a 1 person contract then sure.

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

#132

Post by yupyupyups »

d--b wrote: post #5

Consulting firms are total crooks. Before they used AI, they used just-out-of-grad-school interns... People who've never work in consulting have no idea how crazy the gap is between the price of reports like these and the salary that's paid to the people actually writing them.

>Consulting firms are total crooks.

Amen to that. They rip off the consolutant and the customer.

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

#133

Post by bearjaws »

dhotson wrote: post #2

Good to know.. if you defraud the Australian government and misuse tax payers money... the consequences are: partial refund.

To be fair this is pretty much how it has to work.

Imagine one rogue employee out of 10 commits fraud, do you get all your money back? No you get the billable hours + damages for the fraud.

If it worked the other way contracts would be longer than the actual work to be performed.

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

#134

Post by ctippett »

moron4hire wrote: post #113

I've been a consultant for most of the last 20 (actually come to think of it, 25) years. Even did a brief stint at Deloitte. There is a lot of prejudice against consulting. Places like Deloitte, Accenture, are some of the largest companies in the world, so when they fuck up (which they seem previously designed to do, Deloitte was the quest job I've ever had), they fuck up big and very visibly. But there is a super lo…

Funnily enough, in Australia a lot of those "mum and pop" consultancies (the successful ones at least) are getting slurped up by the likes of Cognizant and co.

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

#135

Post by coldpie »

trollbridge wrote: post #124
thelastgallon wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Skip all the fluff and try being treated by a doctor instead! That's what they're there for.

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

#136

Post by yupyupyups »

rhetocj23 wrote: post #21
d--b wrote: post #5

Consulting firms are total crooks. Before they used AI, they used just-out-of-grad-school interns... People who've never work in consulting have no idea how crazy the gap is between the price of reports like these and the salary that's paid to the people actually writing them.

Well that’s the core idea - build an environment of hungry folks who don’t quite know how the world works and suck all that you can out of them.

That's something worker unions can help with, by enlightening members what a reasonable salary is. These consultancy companies often underpay their consultants. Sometimes the salary is egregiously low with the excuse that they are providing some kind of preparatory education for some length of time. The work of that same consultant that is "in education" is then heavily overcharged for.

I've heard some horror stories with these.

tl;dr Make use of a good union or org to find out what a good salary is and don't get yourself ripped off.

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

#137

Post by LambdaComplex »

trollbridge wrote: post #124
thelastgallon wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Chiropractic, as a field, was created by someone who was adamant that he got the idea from a ghost during a seance. He then claimed to cure someone's deafness via spinal manipulation.

Just go to a massage therapist or a physical therapist (depending on your actual needs).

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

#139

Post by onetokeoverthe »

dmd wrote: post #107
thelastgallon wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Chiropractor is NOT the same as astrology. Astrology isn’t noted for causing permanent spinal cord damage and quadriplegia.

[dead]

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

#140

Post by icedchai »

decimalenough wrote: post #64
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.

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…

My friend is working with a $WITCH (from the customer side, not $WITCH side) and quality / skill is nowhere to be found.
Post reply on HN