UK Civil service interns must be working class, government says (bbc.co.uk)

there's a user-facing worker on my team who regularly responds to users with AI slop. they don't even bother to remove the emdashes or adjust the pandering tone. it's absolutely nails on a chalkboard for me. I'm not their manager so I hesitate to intervene at all, but it makes me cringe and I think lots of users would feel the same. what would you do in this situation?

Comments (8)

ggm · 9h ago

I'd speak up. It's disrespectful, it's lazy, and it's very probably deceptive. I'd speak privately to them and if it continues and you don't agree to their reasoning to continue, Cc their manager and HR.

Of course this is high risk. For a working relationship, for your own longevity in the company. But, so is the loss of mutuality. And if the company wants what they are doing, you are so far out of alignment the signal to leave will be strong.

I do think it starts with questioning their behaviour one on one, privately. And listening to their response, and reflecting on it: you may not have all the information: what if they are operating under instruction?

If you do talk, try to keep your temper under control. Avoid giving signals which could be misinterpreted or used against you.

blinkbat · 9h ago

thank you for the advice, I'm still mulling over whether or not I'll get involved. it's been going on for months already.

apothegm · 9h ago

Ask. Not about them. Ask as you would ask if you were interested in using AI the same way. “What are our company standards and expectations around the use of AI for X?” “What editing are we expected to do?”

That should give you a better sense of what sort of reception an intervention should get, or whether anyone besides you perceives this as problematic in the first place.

blinkbat · 9h ago

this is a potentially good way to do it, but I'm a bit concerned that it would be transparent as they and I do not do the same job.

JohnFen · 8h ago

I wish I had a solution for this. One of my friends has taken to copypasting genAI crap in our chats these days, and nobody can figure out how to make him stop. All the rest of us can do is to ignore him when he does this. Nobody cares what genAI has to say about anything, we care about what he has to say.

alganet · 9h ago

Is he a coworker or an imaginary coworker you made up just to be able to post this question? (not a trick question, I am performing a geniuine inquiry).

blinkbat · 8h ago

is this an imaginary question?

alganet · 7h ago

It's a complex one, in the sense that it allows for an answer if you frame it in a cartesian plane.

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Let's get real, real quick.

- If this is a real employee of a real company, he's being an asshole and deserves the scorn.

- If it's a trick post, designed to play on AI slop nonsense, my answer would make the poster question if his methods really work.

- If it's a joke, then it means I got it and didn't laughed at it. Perhaps I don't have sense or humor, but at least I got it (other answers seem to miss it).

Ultimately, all things human think are imaginary. I am entrenching on the imagination of the poster to question his motives.