Aussie academics 'n AI - fiction presented to govt inquiry

[rodericb]

The "Big 4" (Delloitte, KPMG, PWC, EY) have been under the microscope in Australia lately due to various shenanigans involving state and federal governments. One of the microscopes is a federal senate inquiry into the Australian consulting industry. This inquiry takes submissions and some concerned academics thought it their duty to get stuck into it and prepare a submission. It seems their mistake was to rely on Google Bard to do the work - their request to the Bard for all the juicy bits giving them that and more including fictitious events and scandals which they dutifully relayed to the senate inquiry without some basic checks on accuracy.....

The senate inquiry is covered by parliamentary privilege and the witch hunt made some waves in some of the Big 4 accounting firms with some partners resigning and no doubt quite a few frayed nerves. The "emeritus professor" leading the exercise has "apologised unreservedly" and has "asked that the other academics be excused". Consultants wield a lot of influence in the corridors of parliament and it's no wonder with the boobery being mustered up by the people running the place and the clever-clogs in academia sticking their oar in.....

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/nov/02/a...

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/nov/03/k...

[ChemicalChaos]

You'd have thought people would have learned by now - DO NOT use AI for citations in ANY field - financial, medical, legal - as it makes things up to suit an argument!

This one went viral last year when 2 lawyers narrowly avoided being disbarred for citing fake cases given to them by ChatGPT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqSYljRYDEM

[Wills2]

This part of AI relies upon people being lazy and it seems that they are, if it's easy and convenient then that's the path many people will take regardless of the outcome to them or others.

The real joke being that industry is full of toxic ideas and people and nailing them would have been like shooting fish in a barrel, they advise drugs companies how to sell opioids to people that don't need them whilst another team grifts money out of the health dept on how to tackle the issue....as an example.