The government of Western Australia is pressing Deloitte for a swift refund following the delivery of a deeply flawed analysis examining the consolidation of three universities in Perth. The document in question included references to non-existent sources generated by artificial intelligence, alongside significant errors in projected costs.
According to a statement from a government representative to Guardian Australia, the state expressed considerable frustration and has contacted Deloitte to expedite the refund process. The consulting firm received A$166,000 for producing the study.
Deloitte prepared the cost-benefit analysis evaluating a potential merger of the University of Western Australia, Curtin University, and Murdoch University. In its report, Deloitte acknowledged deploying generative AI to facilitate research collection, information condensing, and quality assurance.
The fabricated references became public in October after being identified by critics, with a Reddit post sparking wider attention according to Times Higher Education. Deloitte initially characterised these as insignificant mistakes, and the government instructed the firm to revise and republish the document.
Subsequent investigation by Guardian Australia uncovered numerical discrepancies throughout the report's supporting materials. One example showed that two separate expenditure items for a potential Curtin-UWA merger summed to A$659m, yet the report presented this figure as A$399m. TNW has not independently verified the appendix calculations.
The government stated it had received assurances that these computational errors do not affect the underlying analysis or conclusions. Deloitte plans to address the mistakes and distribute a corrected version, according to the spokesperson.
Deloitte declined to provide responses to Guardian Australia's inquiries.
This situation echoes a previous incident in 2025 when Deloitte agreed to provide a partial refund to Australia's national government for a A$440,000 report that similarly contained AI-generated mistakes. Competing consultancies KPMG and PwC have encountered comparable difficulties with AI-assisted reports throughout the year.
Source: The Next Web
