Western Australia Seeks Refund From Deloitte Over AI Errors

The Government of Western Australia is seeking a A$166,000 refund from Deloitte after the professional services firm delivered a flawed cost-benefit analysis regarding a proposed merger of the University of Western Australia, Curtin University, and Murdoch University.

The report contained significant mathematical errors in its appendix, including one instance where costs of A$659 million were incorrectly listed as A$399 million. Additionally, the document included AI-generated references to sources that do not exist. Deloitte admitted to using generative AI for research, summarization, and proofreading during the production of the analysis.

While Deloitte characterized the hallucinations as minor errors that did not alter the report's overall findings, the state government expressed disappointment and demanded a fast refund. This incident follows a 2025 case in which Deloitte provided a partial refund to the Australian federal government for similar AI-driven errors in a separate report.