(no subject)

[olivermoss]

Over at Worldcon Cassidy (WSFS DH), Nicholas Whyte (Hugo Administrator) and Esther MacCallum-Stewart (Deputy Hugo Administrator) all resigned yesterday. I didn't post about it, because today was the day that the 'full explanation' for their use of ChatGPT was supposed to be posted. We don't know for sure if the con's use of ChatGPT was the reason for them leaving, but it feels like it was and a lot of people jumped to that conclusion.

I'd given up on that statement happening today, but they did post. Yeah, that's not good. It makes me question a lot of what was in the original statement. And the division head didn't know that this is what their staff was doing? Was it all of them? I mean, whether it was all 30 or just some, I have a lot of questions about the hundreds of work hours claim.

Also, like seriously, did all 30 staff have a specific workflow and their division head had no idea or was it just some and they were making it sound like it was everyone because... they just kinda pointed the finger at 30 specific staff. Like, whether it was all of some, this is not good.

Honestly, it sounds like they have no clue what the hell is going on at their own con, what their policies and work flows are, etc.

Comments

[muccamukk]

I'm so much more confused after reading that!

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

That definitely sounds like a "Left hand, what left hand?" situation.

[princessofgeeks]

So the resignations were indeed over the use of the LLM? I was following this but am puzzled.

[olivermoss]

We don't know for sure. There is a lot we don't know because the ConCom is putting out conflicting info. The clarification wasn't very clear.

An entire department having a workflow their manager didn't know about is like... if that really is what happened there are big problems outside of LLM usage. If that isn't accurate, hoo boy, they are about to have big problems outside of LLM usage.

[mistressofmuses]

I don't even know what to say. *deep, heavy sigh* is about the most I can muster.

Not great! Not great at all!

[olivermoss]

The explanation is that an entire department went rogue, breaking con policy in the process? Like... wtf?

I am trying hard not to speculate, but I have trouble believing that all 30 of them went off-script in the same way, using the same queries. If they did, WTF? If they didn't, oooh boy I get some of those staffers are not happy under those bus wheels

[mistressofmuses]

Right? Like... I have a very hard time believing that 30 people just all independently decided to do this same exact thing with no direction whatsoever, just coincidentally they all did this...

It definitely feels like these staffers have been thrown under a massive bus.

[olivermoss]

Yeah, on one hand I doubt that's what happened but also... if it did happen that's really bad. Like, maybe this is because I've run departments and set policy, but a department being that rogue is really messed up. What they are claiming is that the entire department is fucked.

[mistressofmuses]

Right? If it didn't happen, then they're absolutely just scapegoating these staffers, who were probably doing as they were directed to, or maybe weren't even directly involved. If they *did* all do this, and go rogue in exactly the same way, then that points to a super terrible management of that department, which looks like an even deeper problem. So... no good outcome for them, here!

[olivermoss]

Yeah, and I feel like the confusion over what happened and when this alleged 'expert in LLMs since the 90s' reviewed the process had quieted a lot of the drama because people really aren't sure what even fucking happened.

Even I'm chasing my own tail trying to figure out if there is a way someone could have worked in that field that long, if you are very generous in how you define LLM. Broaden it enough and you could make a case, but if they okayed those queries there were still an idiot

[mistressofmuses]

Right? Even the best case scenario they're trying to outline as having happened here doesn't actually look great! Insisting that yes, you totally had an expert directing this process is in a lot of ways a worse look than claiming it was an oops by low-level staffers... IDK, they just seem to keep digging new holes. I guess that does make it hard to have any drama really latch on, because it's just such a mess.

[olivermoss]

And now they've got so much more work to do, and not a lot of time. It really is the 'time saver' that doesn't save time and even if it did, the problems are not worth it.

[mistressofmuses]

I do love time-saving tricks that create loads of extra work!