Deloitte Australia will partially refund the federal government after a report containing apparent AI-generated errors was discovered.
The AUD440,000 (approximately USD290,000) report, commissioned by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations and published in July, examined the department’s IT systems and their use of automated penalties in Australia’s welfare system.
It has since been found to include fabricated quotes, references to non-existent academic papers, and other inaccuracies.
A revised version was released last Friday (3 October) after University of Sydney researcher Chris Rudge, who specialises in health and welfare law, alerted the media that the document was “full of fabricated references”.
In a statement on Tuesday, the department said Deloitte had reviewed the 237-page report and “confirmed some footnotes and references were incorrect”. It added that the firm had agreed to repay the final instalment under its contract, with the amount to be disclosed once the refund is processed.
Deloitte responded to inquiries from The Associated Press by stating that the matter had been resolved directly with the client and did not clarify whether AI was responsible for the errors. The revised version of the report disclosed that it was produced using Azure OpenAI, a generative AI language system, and removed inaccurate quotes and references to non-existent research.
Chris Rudge explained that his concern stemmed from the fabricated elements, particularly the misquote of a judge and the invention of references, which could potentially mislead decision-makers relying on the report.
Australian Greens senator Barbara Pocock called for Deloitte to refund the entire amount, criticising the misuse of AI and accusing the firm of irresponsibly fabricating information that even a first-year university student would be reprimanded for.
CNA
