Deloitte\u2019s member firm in Australia will pay the government a partial refund for a $290,000 report that contained alleged AI-generated errors, including references to non-existent academic research papers and a fabricated quote from a federal court judgment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The report<\/a> was originally published on the Australian government\u2019s Department of Employment and Workplace Relations website in July. A revised version was quietly published on Friday after Sydney University researcher of health and welfare law Chris Rudge said he alerted media outlets that the report was \u201cfull of fabricated references.\u201d<\/p>\n Deloitte reviewed the 237-page report and \u201cconfirmed some footnotes and references were incorrect,\u201d the department said in a statement<\/a> Tuesday.<\/p>\n Deloitte did not immediately respond to Fortune\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n The revised version of the report includes a disclosure that a generative AI language system, Azure OpenAI, was used in its creation. It also removes the fabricated quotes attributed to a federal court judge and references to nonexistent reports attributed to law and software engineering experts. Deloitte noted in a \u201cReport Update\u201d section that the updated version, dated September 26, replaced the report published in July.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe updates made in no way impact or affect the substantive content, findings and recommendations in the report,\u201d Deloitte wrote.<\/p>\n In late August the Australian Financial Review first reported<\/a> that the document contained multiple errors, citing Rudge as the researcher who identified the apparent AI-generated inaccuracies.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rudge discovered<\/a> the report\u2019s mistakes when he read a portion incorrectly stating Lisa Burton Crawford, a Sydney University professor of public and constitutional law, had authored a non-existent book with a title outside her field of expertise.<\/p>\n \u201cI instantaneously knew it was either hallucinated by AI or the world\u2019s best kept secret because I\u2019d never heard of the book and it sounded preposterous,\u201d Rudge told<\/a> The Associated Press on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Big Four consulting firms and global management firms such as McKinsey<\/a> have invested hundreds of millions of dollars into AI initiatives to develop proprietary models and increase efficiency. In September, Deloitte said<\/a> it would invest $3 billion in generative AI development through fiscal year 2030.\u00a0<\/p>\n Anthropic also announced<\/a> a Deloitte partnership on Monday that includes making Claude available to more than 470,000 Deloitte professionals.<\/p>\n