Western Australia seeks refund from Deloitte over flawed AI-aided report

Western Australia's government is demanding a fast refund from Deloitte for a A$166,000 report on merging three universities that contained AI-generated fake references and wrong cost totals. One appendix listed A$399m for a Curtin-UWA merger instead of A$659m. Deloitte will correct the errors and reissue the report.

• State paid Deloitte A$166,000 for the university merger cost-benefit analysis
• Report contained AI-generated references to sources that do not exist
• Appendix gave A$399m for a merger whose costs totalled A$659m
• Deloitte partly refunded Australia's federal government over a similar AI error in 2025