Le rapport de Deloitte de 1,6 M$ sur les ressources humaines en santé de Terre-Neuve contenait des citations de recherche fausses générées par l'IA
Le plan de main-d'œuvre en santé de 1,6 M$ de Deloitte contenait de fausses citations générées par IA vers des études inexistantes, les vrais chercheurs niant en être les auteurs.
In May 2025, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador released a 526-page Health Human Resources Plan commissioned from Deloitte at a cost of nearly $1.6 million (Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2025). The plan was intended to guide a decade of workforce planning across 21 healthcare occupations.
In November 2025, The Independent (NL) reported that the document contained AI-generated false academic citations (The Independent, 2025). Professor Emerita Martha MacLeod of the University of Northern British Columbia confirmed that a cited paper — "The cost-effectiveness of a rural retention program for registered nurses in Canada" — was "false" and "potentially AI-generated," noting that while her team had done rural nursing research, they had never conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis (The Independent, 2025). Adjunct Professor Gail Tomblin Murphy of Dalhousie University confirmed another cited paper "does not exist," adding that she had only worked with three of the six other authors named in the citation (The Independent, 2025). A third citation, purportedly from the Canadian Journal of Respiratory Therapy, could not be found in academic databases (The Independent, 2025).
Deloitte responded that "AI was not used to write the report" but was "selectively used to support a small number of research citations," and stated it would issue corrections that "do not impact the report findings" (Fortune, 2025). The Premier and Health Minister did not respond to media inquiries. In June 2025 — one month after the report's release — Deloitte had been selected for an additional contract: a core staffing review of nursing resources.
The incident follows a parallel case in 2025 where a Deloitte Australia report on welfare fraud was found to contain a fabricated court quote and nonexistent research, for which Deloitte agreed to a partial refund of approximately US$290,000 (Fortune, 2025). That report's appendix disclosed the use of Azure OpenAI (Fortune, 2025).
Matérialisé à partir de
Préjudices
Un plan de ressources humaines en santé de 526 pages commandé par le gouvernement, destiné à orienter une décennie de décisions sur les effectifs dans 21 professions de la santé à Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador, contenait des citations universitaires fausses générées par l'IA — incluant des articles que de vrais chercheurs ont confirmé ne pas exister, compromettant la base factuelle de la politique provinciale de santé.
De vrais chercheurs ont été faussement attribués comme auteurs d'articles inexistants. La professeure émérite Martha MacLeod (UNBC) et la professeure Gail Tomblin Murphy (Dalhousie) ont été désignées comme autrices de fausses citations générées par l'IA, portant atteinte à leur réputation professionnelle et conférant une fausse crédibilité aux recommandations de politique.
Preuves
3 rapports
- Major N.L. healthcare report contains errors likely generated by A.I. Source principale
Investigation identifying AI-generated false citations and researcher denials
- Deloitte caught with fabricated, AI-generated research in million-dollar report for Canada government Source principale
Deloitte's admission of selective AI use and parallel Australian incident
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Official release date and context of the commissioned report
Détails de la fiche
Évaluation éditoriale évalué
Un grand cabinet de conseil a utilisé l'IA pour générer des citations de recherche dans un document de politique de santé gouvernemental de 1,6 million de dollars, dont certaines se sont avérées fausses (Fortune, 2025; The Independent, 2025). L'incident illustre comment la confabulation des GML peut atteindre des décisions de politique conséquentes par le biais de canaux institutionnels établis.
Entités impliquées
Systèmes d'IA impliqués
Generative AI tool likely used to produce the AI-generated false research citations found in Deloitte's health workforce report
Taxonomieévalué
AIID : Incident #1286
Historique des modifications
| Version | Date | Modification |
|---|---|---|
| v1 | 8 mars 2026 | Initial publication based on AIID cross-reference scan |
| v2 | 11 mars 2026 | Neutrality and factuality review: corrected Deloitte Australia timeline (August 2025, not July); corrected refund amount (partial refund of AUD $440,000 contract, not AUD $290,000 — the record had confused USD equivalent with AUD); removed three fabricated policy recommendation attributions (The Independent reported but didn't recommend disclosure requirements; TBS Directive applies to federal administrative decisions not consulting contracts; Prof. MacLeod confirmed false citation but didn't recommend professional standards). |