AI: Friend or Foe for Bid Writers?

Here are two quotes on artificial intelligence (AI). One takes a reasonably optimistic view, while the other is somewhat pessimistic.

“Some people call this artificial intelligence, but the reality is this technology will enhance us. So instead of artificial intelligence, I think we’ll augment our intelligence.”

Ginni Rometty (former executive chairman of IBM)

“I’m increasingly inclined to think that there should be some regulatory oversight, maybe at the national and international level, just to make sure that we don’t do something very foolish. I mean with artificial intelligence we’re summoning the demon.”

Elon Musk (speaking at MIT’s AeroAstro Centennial Symposium)

An internet search for quotes about AI reflects these opposing views, with enthusiastic supporters willing to be early adopters and others remaining deeply cautious. There is no universally accepted point of view.

Your view of AI is probably linked to your personal perspective. It will be positive if you see it as potentially enhancing your job; being more efficient, more effective, and empowering you to produce improved work outcomes. The flip side is that if you believe AI in some way threatens your role, then you are likely to have a negative opinion. Regardless of where your sensibilities lay, the inescapable truth is that AI is not going away and will eventually be fully integrated into just about every aspect of human interaction(s) with technology.

Therefore, the question confronting us is how we will react when AI comes knocking at our professional door. For the community of bid professionals, that time is just about upon us.

ChatGPT was launched in November 2022, and an enhanced version – Chat OpenAI – is now available for ChatGPT Plus subscribers. The team at Bid Perfect created a paid for account to try to understand the benefits and the limitations of the platform. We wanted to know just how easy it is to write bid narrative (or parts of a bid) using AI, even with this early version of the technology. (The technology is improving exponentially. Soon, there will be several AI platforms from which to choose.)

We conducted extensive testing using two random questions from a social care bid we were working on. Below are some results and our conclusions.

The two questions we used AI to answer are:

1.      How will your service drive social value during the contract? (250-word limit)

2.      How do you ensure maintaining a diverse staffing complement when recruiting. (250-word limit)

As we familiarised ourselves with the user interface, we quickly realised that AI writes the best answer when the question is rewritten to include the information you want the platform to incorporate in your answer. You also need to determine the number of words to be used. Also, we understood that the question should remain largely generic and that adding organisational identity will be a manual intervention after the answer is generated.

What did ChatOpenAI come up with? We have reproduced (exactly) the question we posed and the response generated.

Question 1

Write 250 words about the ways in which social value can be ensured when caring for vulnerable people in their homes.

AI-generated response:

Ensuring social value when caring for vulnerable people in their homes is crucial for fostering a sense of dignity, respect, and well-being for those individuals. There are several ways in which social value can be maintained and even enhanced in such settings.

1. Person-centred care: Tailoring care to the unique needs, preferences, and values of the individual helps to create a sense of control and autonomy for the person receiving care. This involves actively listening to their concerns and involving them in decision-making processes, which ultimately contributes to a higher quality of life.
2. Cultural competence: Understanding and respecting the cultural, religious, and linguistic backgrounds of vulnerable individuals is essential for promoting social value. Care providers should be trained in cultural competence to ensure they are able to adapt their care approach to each person’s unique background, fostering a sense of inclusion and trust.
3. Empowering relationships: Building strong, empowering relationships between care providers and vulnerable individuals is vital for ensuring social value. This can be achieved through consistent, open communication, mutual respect, and empathy. By forging strong connections, care providers can better understand the individual’s needs and develop tailored support plans.
4. Community involvement: Encouraging and facilitating connections with the local community is another way to foster social value. This can be achieved by providing opportunities for social interaction, encouraging participation in community events, and promoting access to local resources and services. In turn, this strengthens social networks and promotes a sense of belonging.
5. Collaboration with family and friends: Involving family members and friends in the care process strengthens support networks and ensures that the individual’s social needs are met. This collaboration helps to create a more comprehensive support system that respects the individual’s values and preferences.
6. Professional development: Providing care providers with ongoing training and development opportunities ensures they are equipped with the skills and knowledge necessary to deliver high-quality care. This includes education on best practices, emerging trends, and relevant legislation, which in turn leads to better outcomes for vulnerable individuals.
7. Accountability and transparency: Regular monitoring and evaluation of care practices, as well as open communication with vulnerable individuals and their families, ensures that care providers remain accountable for their actions. This level of transparency contributes to a culture of trust and helps to maintain social value.

In conclusion, ensuring social value when caring for vulnerable people in their homes involves a multifaceted approach that encompasses person-centered care, cultural competence, empowering relationships, community involvement, collaboration with family and friends, professional development, and accountability. By implementing these practices, care providers can help to create a dignified, respectful, and inclusive environment for those in their care.

Question 2

Write 250 words on how to ensure a diverse staffing complement when recruiting.

AI-generated response:

Maintaining a diverse staffing complement when recruiting is essential for fostering an inclusive work environment and promoting creativity, innovation, and productivity. Organizations that value diversity often benefit from a broader range of perspectives and experiences, which can lead to improved decision-making and problem-solving. Here are several strategies for ensuring diversity in the recruitment process:

1. Inclusive job descriptions: Craft job descriptions that focus on essential qualifications and avoid jargon, gendered language, or other elements that may discourage diverse applicants. Ensure that qualifications and requirements are relevant and necessary for the role to minimize potential barriers for underrepresented candidates.
2. Diverse advertising channels: Advertise job openings through a variety of channels, including websites, social media platforms, and publications that cater to diverse audiences. Partnering with organizations or associations that represent underrepresented communities can help extend the reach of job postings and attract a diverse applicant pool.
3. Unconscious bias training: Provide unconscious bias training for all staff involved in the recruitment process to raise awareness about potential biases and their impact on decision-making. This will help to create a more equitable selection process and minimize the influence of biases in hiring decisions.
4. Standardized evaluation criteria: Develop clear, objective criteria for evaluating candidates based on relevant skills, experience, and qualifications. This will ensure that all applicants are assessed fairly and consistently, reducing the potential for bias.
5. Diverse interview panels: Assemble diverse interview panels that include members from different backgrounds, genders, ethnicities, and ages. This can help to minimize biases and ensure a more comprehensive evaluation of candidates.
6. Blind recruitment: Implement blind recruitment practices, such as removing names, gender, and other identifying information from resumes, to reduce the potential for bias. This approach enables hiring managers to focus solely on the skills and qualifications of applicants.
7. Mentorship and internship programs: Establish mentorship and internship programs that target underrepresented communities, providing opportunities for these individuals to develop skills and gain exposure to the organization. This can help to create a pipeline of diverse talent for future recruitment efforts.
8. Set diversity goals: Establish clear diversity goals for the organization and track progress towards these objectives. This can include setting targets for the representation of underrepresented groups within the workforce and monitoring hiring practices to ensure they align with these goals.

In conclusion, maintaining a diverse staffing complement when recruiting requires a proactive and multifaceted approach. By implementing inclusive job descriptions, diverse advertising channels, unconscious bias training, standardized evaluation criteria, diverse interview panels, blind recruitment, mentorship and internship programs, and setting diversity goals, organizations can attract and retain a diverse workforce that reflects the richness and complexity of our global society.

Our observations

• Both the AI-generated answers contained nearly twice the number of words we requested. This will, of course, not be a problem for a competent bid writer or editor to reduce the word count to achieve compliance.
• The content was, as anticipated, highly generic. This is because the AI generator received no specific organisational identities with which to work. We then incorporated our client’s name and the commissioning entity in our questions but have not included them here to maintain confidentiality. When adding in more granular detail (e.g. organisational names, locations, etc.), the generator included some relevant detail in the answer.
• AI formatted the answers in a similar pattern: introductory paragraph, bullet-pointed list, concluding paragraph. We did not request bullet points but the format can be changed when incorporating any of the text into a bid template.
• The text was generally competent, relevant, and logically presented. It became rapidly apparent that the nuanced phrasing of the question is critical to achieving a quality answer.

Our conclusion

AI is not to be ‘feared’ – not at this early stage. We don’t envisage it replacing excellent bid writers any time soon. It is not a million miles away from bid software that has been around for many years (extracting information from bid libraries and previously used narrative). The principal difference between the two is that AI draws from an infinitely deeper well of information. But in both cases, it is the skill of the bid writer that will shape the output into a relevant, compelling answer that addresses the reader more effectively.

AI’s primary benefit is using relatively generic questions to produce generic answers that will prompt and fire the bid writer’s imagination. This may be helpful for a novice writer staring at an empty page, or for small companies that cannot hire an interim bid professional.

A cautionary note is that AI technology will rapidly evolve and while it can be justifiably considered as just another tool to drive efficiency and save time, it won’t stay that way forever. Keep ahead of the curve and follow its developmental trajectory (as a bid enabler) so that you can continue to assess its ability to help you. And don’t be afraid to embrace the future; Blockbuster Video ignored the future once – and look at what happened to them.