The
Australian
government paid
consultants
Deloitte
440,000
Australian
dollars
($290,000)
for
a
report
on
the
use
of
automated
penalties
in
Australia’s
welfare
system.
The
final
version
of
the
report
was
placed
on
the
Department
of
Employment
and
Workplace
Relation,
but
that’s
far
from
the
end
of
the
story.
Law
professor
Chris
Rudge
at
Sydney
Law
School
read
the
published
report
and
immediately
knew
there
was
a
problem
—
he
says
the
report
was
“full
of
fabricated
references,”
and
he
catalogued
some
20
errors.
The
most
obvious
was
a
citation
to
a
colleague,
Lisa
Burton
Crawford,
that
seemed
suspicious.
Rudge
said,
“I
instantaneously
knew
it
was
either
hallucinated
by
AI
or
the
world’s
best
kept
secret
because
I’d
never
heard
of
the
book
and
it
sounded
preposterous.”
But
there
were
other
issues
—
including
made
up
caselaw.
“They’ve
totally
misquoted
a
court
case
then
made
up
a
quotation
from
a
judge
and
I
thought,
well
hang
on:
that’s
actually
a
bit
bigger
than
academics’
egos.
That’s
about
misstating
the
law
to
the
Australian
government
in
a
report
that
they
rely
on.
So
I
thought
it
was
important
to
stand
up
for
diligence,”
Rudge
said.
Deloitte
re-issued
the
report,
saying
the
recommendations
and
“substance”
of
the
report
remain
unchanged
but
they
“confirmed
some
footnotes
and
references
were
incorrect.”
And
the
new
version
of
the
report
added
a
noteworthy
disclosure
—
that
Azure
OpenAI
was
used.
And
they’re
going
to
refund
some
of
the
money
the
Australian
government
paid,
saying
the
“matter
has
been
resolved
directly
with
the
client.”
But
that’s
not
enough
for
some.
Australian
Senator
Barbara
Pocock
wants
a
full
refund,
noting
Deloitte
“misused
AI
and
used
it
very
inappropriately:
misquoted
a
judge,
used
references
that
are
non-existent.”
Pocock
continued,
“I
mean,
the
kinds
of
things
that
a
first-year
university
student
would
be
in
deep
trouble
for.”
Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of
The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
email
her
with
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments
and
follow
her
on
Twitter
@Kathryn1 or
Mastodon
@[email protected].