Deloitte Undertakes to Repay Aussie Government After Official Report Includes AI Errors

Deloitte, one of the world’s largest consulting firms, has agreed to refund part of the $440,000 payment it received from the Australian government after acknowledging that AI was used in preparing a government-commissioned report. 

The Employment & Workplace Relations Department had hired Deloitte in 2024 to review the “Future Made in Australia” initiative, focused on a compliance system designed to issue penalties to job seekers who fail to meet certain obligations. 

However, the release of the report in July quickly sparked criticism due to its numerous errors. According to investigations by the Australian Financial Review, the document included references to nonexistent academics and even quoted a Federal Court judgment that turned out to be fabricated. 

Following the controversy, the department published a corrected version of the report on its official website. The updated document removed more than a dozen fake citations, revised footnotes, and fixed several spelling and formatting mistakes. 

The errors were first noticed by welfare researcher Dr. Christopher Rudge, who said the original report included clear examples of AI “hallucinations.” This term refers to instances where AI systems generate information that sounds accurate but is fabricated or misleading. 

Dr. Rudge noted that instead of simply replacing the fake sources, Deloitte’s updated report added several new references, suggesting that some of the original claims had no real evidence behind them. 

Deloitte admitted that AI had been used, but only during the early drafting phase. The firm stated that human experts carefully reviewed the report before submission and that the overall conclusions and recommendations were not influenced by the AI-generated content. The company also stated that the mistakes in the original version were not directly caused by the AI system. 

In the updated report, Deloitte formally acknowledged that a generative AI model—specifically Azure OpenAI GPT-4o—had been part of its research process. A company spokesperson later confirmed that the issue had been resolved with the government and that a refund was being processed. The Department of Employment has also indicated that future consulting contracts might include stricter requirements regarding AI use in official reports. 

The issue has fueled wider discussion about the role of AI in consulting and government work. As firms increasingly rely on AI for efficiency, many are questioning whether clients are still receiving the full value of human expertise. 

This situation stands out as one of the first major cases in Australia where a private consultancy has faced direct consequences for failing to disclose AI involvement in publicly funded work. 

Deloitte recently partnered with Anthropic to provide its global workforce of nearly half a million employees with Claude chatbot access, underscoring the growing dependence on AI across professions. 

While such errors are regrettable, they are a normal part of the growth of new technology and developers at firms like D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE: QBTS) are likely to do everything in their power to address any possible shortcomings in their solutions so that the hiccups experienced by AI developers don’t water down the potential of quantum computing that is shaping itself as another disruptor of various industries. 

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE: QBTS) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/QBTS 

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