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by trollbridge 256 days ago
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.

4 comments

I really do think that this type of AI use is going to become a true life/death epidemic.

The people at Deloitte are not generally dumb unmotivated people. They are ruthless $$ chasers and if AI is allowed they will use it to check the boxes and move onto the next paycheck.

Many of these people will effectively have their life ruined. Many will likely take their own life. Its not just harmless paperwork fudging when it results in men with guns being dispatched.

>The people at Deloitte are not generally dumb unmotivated people.

You end up consulting at Deloitte when you can't get into MBB, any of the smaller boutique firms, strategy at big corporations etc. Accountants are an exception but they're only there to pad their resume before exiting to corporate in-house finance roles that lead to CFO positions.

Deloitte is to outsourced business consulting what Infosys is to outsourced software development.

I've found that the MBB > Big4 trope has largely disappeared (Look at comp at Partner and N-2 levels.)

MBB still has an edge for general management consulting, but I see demand dwindling, despite the annual occurrence of a middle eastern sovereign wealth fund paying $100M for a study to build a wind powered ice skating rink on top of a helicopter pad.

It already is a life/death epidemic. An extremely similar automated decision making scandal to the one OP is referring to led to people's deaths: https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/2030-people-hav....
> The people at Deloitte are not generally dumb unmotivated people

Dumb and highly motivated, then?

I'm pretty sure they're very motivated to make money.
Why bother with going through Deloitte? Just go straight to OpenAI.
Dear OpenAI: Whose door should I break down today? There's no need to explain the reason, just give me the address.
Sincerely, ICE
When humans want a scapegoat, the target is often chosen based on race.

What will AI pick on?

What the racists tell it to pick. Machines don't do anything humans don't tell them to do.
At this point just save the compute and buy a big Price is Right wheel.
I think its based on immigration status which is different from race.
There are cases of those legally in the US being kidnapped. ICE aren’t hitting all races equally.
It's the problem in the first place - they probably DID use Deloitte to build the original system.