Human Oversight Required: Don't Let AI Make You Look Foolish

Hello,

This is Simon with the latest edition of The Weekly. In these updates, I share key AI related stories from this week's news, list upcoming events, and share any longer form articles posted on the website.

Doubts about accuracy are a major factor holding people back from using AI. While today's models are far more accurate than they were two years ago, the risk of getting things wrong hasn't disappeared.

When an AI model doesn't know an answer, it can fabricate details—a behaviour known as 'hallucination'. This is dangerously difficult to detect, as the output often reads like polished, confident prose, requiring a subject-matter expert to spot the fiction.

Deloitte, one of the world’s largest consultancy firms, was recently caught out for this. A report they submitted to the Australian Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, contained several AI-generated errors, including a reference to a non-existent book supposedly written by a real person.

For a firm that literally sells auditing and assurance services, this is more than embarrassing. The mistake was also costly: Deloitte had to refund half of the $AUS 440,000 fee.

This case highlights two critical failures:

While we’ll never know the full story, and I'm sure Deloitte is overhauling its processes, the incident again raises the question of how reliable generative AI is for serious corporate work.

Having worked in client-facing roles for most of my career, it’s second nature to double-check everything—even a basic email—for accuracy, tone, and clarity. Why should this be any different when using AI to help draft your work? In fact, it's even more critical.

While AI tools can save us a huge amount of time, we can't outsource our responsibility. Use it as a shortcut, an idea partner, or a sounding board, but you must take ownership of the final output. It seems that’s exactly what went wrong at Deloitte.

It’s a stark warning to all of us: if one of the biggest global companies can get caught out, anyone can.

To make sure you don't fall into the same trap, take a look at my workbook for using generative AI at work.

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Thanks for reading, and see you next Friday.

Simon,

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