KPMG Pulls AI Report After Companies Say Claims About Their AI Usage Are False

Quick Facts

• KPMG withdrew its October 2025 AI report after companies including UBS and Transport for London said claims about their AI usage were untrue
• GPTZero analysis found only 5 of 45 citations correctly pointed to cited sources, with 89% of the bibliography flagged as flawed
• The scandal comes as KPMG deploys Anthropic’s Claude AI across its 276,000-person workforce through September 2026

KPMG has pulled a report on artificial intelligence usage after multiple organizations said the document’s claims about their AI implementations were false.

The consulting firm removed “Redefining Excellence in the Age of Agentic AI” from its websites in June 2026, six months after publication. The report claimed to analyze AI adoption across major companies and government agencies.

Research firm GPTZero found widespread problems with the document’s sourcing. Only five of 45 citations correctly pointed to the cited source. The rest ranged from misleading to partially fabricated, according to GPTZero’s analysis.

UBS disputed the report’s claim that the bank “integrates and operates AI agents for investment advice, risk management and compliance monitoring on a platform jointly developed with Microsoft.” A UBS spokesperson called the assertion “not true.”

Transport for London said claims about using AI agents to predict and manage congestion were misleading. NHS Greater Manchester said assertions about AI-driven patient triage did not align with the source material cited in footnotes.

The report also contained internal contradictions. It cited “KPMG research” claiming 55% of chief executives rank AI as their top investment priority. KPMG’s own 2025 CEO Outlook, published the same month, put the figure at 71%.

“We expect all our people to follow our guidelines on the responsible use of AI, including human oversight to validate content and verify independent sources,” KPMG said in a statement. The company added it “takes the accuracy and integrity of its published content seriously.”

GPTZero CEO Edward Tian said error-riddled publications by major consulting firms “poison the well of information.” He noted that Big Four firms are viewed as highly credible, so their reliance on false information “increases the risk of second-hand hallucinations.”

The flawed statistics have already spread to trade publications and now appear in responses from ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, illustrating how unverified documents can pollute information systems.

This incident follows similar problems at other major consulting firms. EY withdrew a report on loyalty programs in May 2026 after discovering fake footnotes and AI hallucinations. Deloitte agreed to refund part of a government contract after errors and fabricated references were found in a welfare compliance review.

The scandal comes as KPMG implements a major AI initiative. The firm partnered with Anthropic in May 2026 to deploy Claude AI across its entire 276,000-person workforce by September 2026. The deployment begins with tax and legal services before expanding to other advisory areas.

For KPMG clients, the incident raises questions about oversight standards. If the firm’s public thought leadership uses AI without adequate human review, what verification applies to contracted work?

GPTZero dubbed the citation problems “vibe citing” – where AI appears to stitch together fragments of real sources or invent titles that look convincing until verified.

Read more: KPMG pulls report on AI usage due to apparent hallucinations