providing feedback about suspected genAI use in subpar service delivery - worth doing or waste of time?
Background on the situation
A reader had recently taken part in a new program that was offered in support of their professional development. The program was affiliated with a government partner. The programming follow-up included a series of communications that seemed automated, as well as suggestions for connections and contacts that were both incorrect or out of date. After having a negative experience with this program, they were contacted to provide feedback. Their question is whether to bother providing feedback, given the degree of careless automation and generative AI use that seemed to be behind the design and delivery of the offering.
Some suggestions and rationale for them
The short answer is yes, provide the feedback.
The first reason has to do with the practice of sharing feedback that helps someone understand the consequences of their decisions. In this case, it’s helpful to focus on the poor experience you had, and its negative impacts on you, regardless of the technology/how it was done. Basically, if you complain about the AI, they might tune that out, or incorrectly categorize it as a technology problem ("the next model version won't do this", etc.). But if you provide honest feedback about the negative experience, they can walk that back to how and where the AI was used. This lands your feedback squarely in the realm of their decision-making and program design choices.
The feedback could begin something like this (as ever, this is a flavour to taste kind of suggestion, but just to get off the blank comment form box):
Thanks for the opportunity to provide feedback on your offering. Unfortunately, the programming didn't deliver the kind of connection and support I was hoping for. I know that this work takes time, and that there is no immediate success. But I also believe that this type of program should be modeling what it looks like to develop and maintain good relationships. I'm writing today to suggest that there is room for improvement on this front in however you iterate this program for the next run, should you have one.
In specific terms, the correspondence I received was generic and overly persistent. It didn’t foster a good sense of relationship. Secondly, I received incorrect information regarding potential contacts and other service providers, including out of date information. This made it seem that the community in question is not well known to those delivering the programming. On a personal level, I spent time following up on leads that weren't real.
This is a great example because even if there wasn't AI involved, this would still be a bad experience. People have incorrect contacts in their lists all the time - and probably share them too. Template emails are old and impersonal. All of the feedback suggested here is valid whether AI was used or not. It's helpful to disconnect the feedback from the technology. This helps to focus on the need for the people involved in this program to pay more attention to what they're doing, how they're doing it, and how it makes people feel.
A second reason to share this feedback is that it is critical to hold governments and public sector organizations accountable. When something is government funded or government affiliated, the standard needs to be high. In this case, there is a decent chance that the government partner will see your feedback, and that is part of accountability in the public interest.
Another reason to provide this feedback is to practice assuming good intent, and an interest for those running this program to improve it. In practicing how to share feedback without making assumptions about intent or even what technology was used, we strengthen our ability to keep doing it, which is how we’re going to get to better norms. If no one says anything, no one can say there was a problem. This can be a tiresome activity, but it has been seen time and again that when people stay quiet, there is an unspoken assumption that everything is fine, and from there the problem accelerates and the norm hardens.
None of this is satisfying, none of it gets your time and energy back, none of this means any change will happen, and none of this addresses how frustrating this was. Nor does it guarantee that the people that should see your feedback will see it. But it’s still the right thing to do.
Thanks for writing :)