KPMG retracts AI report after 'made up' claims spark backlash

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KPMG has pulled its global report on “Agentic AI” after major companies and organisations named in it complained that their supposed achievements were completely made up. The professional services giant published the report, titled “Redefining excellence in the age of agentic AI,” with numerous false claims and bogus case studies, according to a report by The Financial Times. The companies says the fabricated success stories appear to have been generated by artificial intelligence (AI) “hallucinations” – where an AI model confidently includes incorrect facts in responses which KPMG’s human staff failed to catch. The inaccuracies were first discovered by the tech research group GPTZero and later verified by the Financial Times. After being alerted to the fake data, several high-profile organisations, including Swiss bank UBS, the UK's National Health Service (NHS) and major public transit agencies, forced KPMG to remove the publication from its websites.

What the KPMG report claimed and what companies said

KPMG’s report claimed how global organisations were successfully deploying highly advanced “AI agents” to handle complex, automated tasks. However, the organisations involved quickly clarified. UBS Bank: The report claimed the global wealth manager integrated AI agents across its investment advisory and risk management systems using a custom platform built with Microsoft. A spokesperson for UBS reportedly told reporters the claims were “factually incorrect” and demanded their removal. Swiss federal railways: KPMG wrote that the railway used AI agents to help users seamlessly plan and book journeys based on real-time conditions and carbon footprints. A railway spokesperson confirmed the claims were “not accurate”. Transport for London (TfL): The study claimed London’s transit system was using AI agents to predict congestion and coordinate city transport – a claim dubbed “misleading” by a TfL spokesperson. NHS Greater Manchester: The report claimed the health service used AI agents to organise patient data, automate referrals and predict hospital readmissions. A spokesperson revealed the claim “doesn't really align” with reality.

‘Poisoning the Well’ of trust

The KPMG scandal is second major event. Just last month, rival firm EY was forced to retract a major study after GPTZero caught fake footnotes and other AI-generated errors in its text. As the “Big Four” accounting and consulting firms are typically viewed as highly credible, their failure to fact-check their own work creates a dangerous ripple effect."They poison the well of information," said Edward Tian, chief executive of GPTZero. Tian pointed out that before KPMG pulled the report, its fake findings had already been cited by multiple tech industry publications and a major European newspaper.

KPMG launches investigation

A spokesperson for KPMG International stated that the firm takes the “accuracy and integrity of its published content seriously” and confirmed the report has been removed while a full internal investigation takes place. The firm admitted that its own employees likely broke internal rules regarding artificial intelligence. “We expect all our people to follow our guidelines on the responsible use of AI, including human oversight to validate content and verify independent sources,” the spokesman was quoted as saying.

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