{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0536","record_version":1,"title":"EY withdraws report over AI hallucination errors, fake data and citations","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":43.1,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":7.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":0.0,"completeness":2.88,"unhedged_language":5.0},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true,"record_integrity":true,"eligible":true,"about_this_case":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-11-01","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":1,"reports_independent":0,"reports_derivative":0,"developing":false,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-11-01","history":[{"date":"2026-11-01","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"81385c61fb68a287afea9910df23a35aa7200b102afb8c9d1e2510f46a8a6427"},"system":{"model_name":null,"model_version":null,"developer":"unknown","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"unknown","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":null,"integration_type":null,"intended_use":null,"safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2026-05-14","incident_class":"hallucination","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":null,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"third_party","summary":"Ernst & Young (EY) published a study on loyalty rewards programmes, written by its consultants in Canada to market their cybersecurity business. The company said the study was not connected to any EY client project. Researchers at the AI detection startup GPTZero found that the report contained made-up data points, misattributed citations, and a cited McKinsey report that does not exist. EY removed the report from its website and said it was reviewing the circumstances that led to its publication. EY said it takes the accuracy of its published content seriously and has an organisation-wide commitment to the responsible use of AI.","tags":[],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":null,"root_cause_detail":null,"failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":null,"adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":"Report removed from the EY website; the firm is reviewing the circumstances that led to its publication","precursor_events":null,"primary_risk":"RK14"},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"minor","harm_class":[],"affected_description":null,"protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/artificial-intelligence/ey-withdraws-report-over-ai-hallucination-errors-fake-data-and-citations-10694245/","publisher":"The Indian Express","date":"2026-05-14","type":"press","title":"EY withdraws report over AI hallucination errors, fake data and citations - The Indian Express","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report"}],"per_field_confidence":{"event.incident_class":"C","event.detection_method":"C","event.remediation":"C","context.industry":"C","impact.severity":"D","event.primary_risk":"D","event.summary":"C","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"D","event.trigger":"D","context.country":"D","system.developer":"D","event.date_disclosed":"D","context.denominator_available":"D"},"field_citations":{"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Accounting firm Ernst & Young (EY) has retracted a recent study after it was flagged for AI-generated hallucinations, including fake footnotes."}],"event.detection_method":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"However, the report provided made-up data points, misattributed citations, and even cited a McKinsey report that does not exist, researchers at AI detection startup GPT-Zero found."}],"event.remediation":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"In response, the accounting firm has removed the report from its website and has said that it is “reviewing the circumstances that led to this article’s publication.”"}],"context.industry":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The incident is the latest example of a professional services firm being led astray by AI."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The study was not connected to projects for any EY client, the company clarified."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The study on loyalty rewards programmes was published by EY consultants in Canada to market their cybersecurity business."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The study was not connected to projects for any EY client, the company clarified."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"However, the report provided made-up data points, misattributed citations, and even cited a McKinsey report that does not exist, researchers at AI detection startup GPT-Zero found."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"In response, the accounting firm has removed the report from its website and has said that it is “reviewing the circumstances that led to this article’s publication.”"},{"source_index":0,"quote":"“EY Canada takes the accuracy of all the content we publish seriously, and we have an organisation-wide commitment to the responsible use of AI,” EY said."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"The sources do not name any AI model, developer, harness or tools, and do not say an autonomous agent was involved, so system and agent fields and failure_class are omitted. The date the study was published or the date of the incident is not stated, so date_occurred is omitted. The source header date 2026-05-14 is not part of the quoted text; date_disclosed uses the GPTZero blog post date as the closest stated public disclosure, which is a judgement. The root cause, responsible party, adversarial actor and trigger are not stated and are omitted. No controls are stated to have held, failed or been missing, so links are empty. The EY removal is recorded in event.remediation and the timeline, but no controls are named as added, so remediations is empty. Severity minor is a judgement: the sources describe one published report not tied to any client, with no stated third-party harm or count. Harm class and reversibility are not stated and are omitted. The Deloitte and Sullivan & Cromwell cases are separate incidents and were excluded. The 'when' for the GPTZero post is given as the stated weekday and day without a year in the quote. [case created by the backfill: read by claude-haiku-5-5, backfill-2026-11-01.2, 2026-11-01; not yet reviewed] [2026-11-01: evidence level set: Preliminary (Publisher not yet named · subject to change)]"},"context":{"industry":"professional services","org_size_band":null,"country":"unknown","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"doing","text":"EY consultants in Canada published a study on loyalty rewards programmes to market their cybersecurity business.","quote":"The study on loyalty rewards programmes was published by EY consultants in Canada to market their cybersecurity business.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"went_wrong","text":"The report contained made-up data points, misattributed citations and a cited McKinsey report that does not exist.","quote":"However, the report provided made-up data points, misattributed citations, and even cited a McKinsey report that does not exist, researchers at AI detection startup GPT-Zero found.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"caught","text":"GPTZero researchers reported the errors in a blog post published on Thursday, May 14.","quote":"GPTZero researchers Om Ogale, Paul Esau and Alex Cui wrote in a blog post published on Thursday, May 14.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"done","text":"EY removed the report from its website and said it was reviewing the circumstances that led to its publication.","quote":"In response, the accounting firm has removed the report from its website and has said that it is “reviewing the circumstances that led to this article’s publication.”","source_index":0,"grade":"C"}],"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/artificial-intelligence/ey-withdraws-report-over-ai-hallucination-errors-fake-data-and-citations-10694245/"]},"analysis":{"sections":{"timeline":[{"text":"EY consultants published the study; the publication date is not stated.","quote":"The study on loyalty rewards programmes was published by EY consultants in Canada to market their cybersecurity business.","source_index":0,"when":null},{"text":"GPTZero researchers published a blog post reporting the fabricated content.","quote":"GPTZero researchers Om Ogale, Paul Esau and Alex Cui wrote in a blog post published on Thursday, May 14.","source_index":0,"when":"Thursday, May 14"},{"text":"EY removed the report from its website in response and said it was reviewing the circumstances that led to its publication.","quote":"In response, the accounting firm has removed the report from its website and has said that it is “reviewing the circumstances that led to this article’s publication.”","source_index":0,"when":null}]},"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/artificial-intelligence/ey-withdraws-report-over-ai-hallucination-errors-fake-data-and-citations-10694245/"]}}