Deloitte has agreed to partially refund an Australian government department after delivering a report that included several errors. The report was produced using generative artificial intelligence, according to the Australian Financial Review.

The Big Four firm was hired to carry out an assurance review of the Targeted Compliance Framework (TCF), a part of the IT system that manages welfare and benefits payments. The project, valued at 440,000 Australian dollars (about $290,000), was completed over seven months and delivered in June.

Nonexistent References and a Fabricated Quote Discovered

When the report was published in July, it was found to contain multiple issues. These included academic references to people who do not exist and a made-up quote from a Federal Court judgment.

The mistakes were identified by Chris Rudge, an academic focused on Australian welfare.

Updated Version Removes Dozens of Errors

A revised version of the report was later published on the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) website. The updated document removed over a dozen false references and footnotes, corrected typographical errors, and rewrote the reference list, according to the AFR.

AI Use Disclosed Only in Revised Report

In the updated version, Deloitte stated that it had used a generative artificial intelligence large language model, specifically the Azure OpenAI GPT-4o tool chain. This system was licensed by DEWR and operated on DEWR’s Azure platform.

According to the AFR, this detail about AI use was not included in the original July report.

PHOTO: DELOITTE

This article was created with AI assistance.