A healthcare study ordered by a provincial government in Canada and prepared by Deloitte has come under scrutiny after claims that it contains possible AI generated mistakes. The project reportedly cost nearly 1.6 million dollars, and this marks the second occasion this year in which the consultancy has been accused of using AI created material and questionable citations in its official work.
The concerns were first made public by the Independent, a Canadian media outlet. According to the publication, the document prepared by Deloitte and later released by the Department of Health and Community Services includes at least four citations that cannot be traced to any real source.
This study was ordered by the former administration and examined a wide range of topics such as the rise of virtual care, the effects of the pandemic on healthcare staff, and suggestions for improving human resource planning in a sector that is facing significant worker shortages.
Critics argue that some citations in the report appear to be fabricated, with references pointing to academic studies that do not exist. The Independent also noted that certain papers were credited to legitimate researchers who had never authored them, and in a few cases names were included that do not belong to any known scholars.
What did Deloitte say in response
In a statement to Fortune, a spokesperson for Deloitte Canada insisted that the firm fully supports the recommendations laid out in the document.
They added that the team is making minor corrections to a small number of citations but emphasised that these adjustments do not alter the overall conclusions of the study. The spokesperson also stated that AI did not draft the main content of the report and was used only in a limited way to assist with a handful of research references.
Earlier this year, Deloitte Australia agreed to return part of the payment for a report valued at 290 thousand dollars after it was found to contain alleged AI related inaccuracies. That document was more than two hundred pages long and had been posted on the website of the Australian government’s Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.
