AIpocolypse A partner at accounting and consultancy giant KPMG in Australia was forced to cough up a AU$10k ($7,084/ £5,195) fine after he used AI to ace an internal training course on… AI.
Faced with questions on the use of AI, the unnamed partner uploaded training materials to an AI platform to help generate his response, according to a report in the FT.
The partner was just one of more than two dozen staff who have been rumbled for using AI tooling while taking internal exams, the consulting giant confirmed.
The unnamed KPMG partner’s attempted use of AI on an internal test was first reported by the Australian Financial Review, and was flagged up in an Australian senate inquiry into governance.
Barbara Pocock, a senator with Australia’s Greens party, referred to a “misdemeanor” at the firm, and said she was disappointed with the fine. “We’ve got a toothless system where con artists… get away with so much,” she told a parliamentary committee last week.
KPMG Australia chief exec Andrew Yates was quoted as saying it was “grappling” with the impact of AI when it comes to internal training and testing.
“It’s a very hard thing to get on top of given how quickly society has embraced it,” he said.
A KPMG spokesperson confirmed the FT story and told The Register the “two dozen” figure was confined to Australia. No similar reports have emerged outside the antipodes, apparently.
The accounting and consulting biz is not alone in its struggle. Rival Deloitte Australia had to refund a large chunk of the fee for a report it produced for the Australian government last year.
The report was littered with AI hallucinations, including imagined quotes from a court ruling and non-existent academic research.
In the UK, West Midlands’ chief constable Craig Guildford was prompted into retirement earlier this year after it emerged his force relied on Copilot when considering whether to block Israeli football fans from an Aston Villa – Maccabi Tel Aviv match.
The research threw up concerns about disruption at a match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and West Ham. The only problem being no such match occurred.
Guildford’s acting successor, Scott Green, said the matter is being investigated by IPSO and the force’s own professional standards department. In the meantime, he said, Copilot had been switched off across the force. For now, at least. ®