KPMG Publish AI Report Filled with Hallucinations

KPMG, one of the largest consulting firms in the world, have been accused of publishing a report on the future of AI that is riddled with hallucinations. 

In one instance, uncovered by the AI detection company, GPTZero, the report claims that the Japanese East Japan Railway Company (JR East) are using agentic AI for customer service, linking to a 2019 press release, years before agentic AI became mainstream. 

In another instance, the report falsely claimed that Austrian electricity provider Verbund is using AI agents in households to conduct real-time analytics as part of its “energy-as-a-service ecosystem”. Although Verbund invested in a start-up using agents for grid optimization, there was no evidence to support the claim of real-time analytics in households.  

GPTZero had analyzed the report, Total Experience: Redefining Excellence in the Age of Agentic AI, which was released in October, 2025. Out of 45 total citations, they found only 5 were accurate, with many of the others being entirely fabricated or containing a mix of real authors and fake data (a phenomenon GPTZero dubbed "vibe citing"). Another 28 citations provide paraphrased titles and/or fake components for a real source. The final 12 are too vague or flawed to accurately determine if a source exists.

Additionally, the report highlighted cutting-edge "Agentic AI" case studies for several major organizations. However, companies like UBS, Swiss Federal Railways, UK's Transport for London (TfL), and NHS (Greater Manchester) formally denied these claims, calling them factually incorrect or highly misleading.

The results may have redefined excellence, but not in the way KPMG intended! 

Anyway, the said report, which has now been taken down, has been referenced by multiple customer service publications and a major newspaper in the Czech Republic. 

In addition, researchers noted that the paper is now being referenced as a resource on customer experience by OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google Gemini. GPTZero allege that an LLM research tool was asked to find appropriate case studies of companies using agentic AI worldwide. 

“This tool seems to have conflated sources, exaggerated claims, and injected references to agentic AI that were copied into the final report without verification”, according to GPTZero, which suspect "no human at KPMG double-checked the citations, the claims, or the sources” before the report was published.

And predictably, KPMG came up with the following "generic excuse": "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".  😅😅😅

Sivasangari Subramaniam was in top form to beat world No. 6 Satomi Watanabe of Japan in straight games to reach the semi-finals of the PSA Tour Finals in Paris, France on Wednesday. 

The Malaysian, ranked No. 5 in the world, won the first-round encounter 3-0: 11-9, 11-6, 11-9 in 35 minutes. It was Sivasangari's eighth win over Satomi in nine meetings. 

The 27-year-old Sivasangari, who won the Australian and Grasshopper Open titles this year, will face world champion Amina Orfi of Egypt for a place in the final on Friday. 

Orfi, who won the British Open title  earlier this month, has a 7-2 winning record against the Malaysian.

Moscow Opens Criminal Case Over Arrest Warrant

The International Criminal Court prosecutor and judges who issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin have become the targets of a criminal case, Russia’s Investigative Committee announced today. (Refer to my post "An Out of Season April Fool's Joke" yesterday).

 

In a Telegram post, the committee said that they had opened cases against ICC prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan (right), as well as judges Tomoko Akane, Rosario Salvatore Aitala and Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godinez. 

 

Russia’s investigative committee have described the ICC prosecutions as “obviously illegal, since there are no grounds for criminal liability”. They also pointed to the 1973 UN Protection of Diplomats Convention which grants heads of state absolute immunity from the jurisdiction of foreign countries. 

 

The committee already consider Khan’s actions a crime under Russian law for “knowingly bringing an innocent person to criminal liability, combined with unlawfully accusing a person of committing a grave or especially grave crime”. He is also charged with preparing an attack on a representative of a foreign state "with the intention of complicating international relations". 

 

In any case, the ICC are not recognized in Russia. And it is disregarding the ICC warrant as having no legal basis, with ex-president Dmitry Medvedev suggesting it is a sign of the collapse of international law. 

 

Still on Credit Suisse – refer to my post "Gold Surges Amidst Banking Crisis" yesterday. 

 

The Swiss government have forced through the takeover of stricken bank Credit Suisse by rival UBS for almost $3.25 billion – well below their market value – amid fears that a failure to protect depositors would trigger a new global banking crisis. 

 

After a frenzied weekend of frantic talks, the Swiss government and the banking regulator brokered a deal once it became clear a $54 billion loan to Credit Suisse from the Swiss central bank had failed to halt the precipitous slide in their share price. 

 

The agreement of terms before markets open on Monday morning is particularly important because Credit Suisse are categorised by the global Financial Stability Board as one of just 30 “systemically important” lenders in the global banking system.

Swiss Probe is Politically-motivated

When allegations involving a political figure are made, I would expect that person to deny or disprove those very allegations. Or even just keep quiet and not say anything. But in the case of the Swiss investigation into UBS links to Musa Aman, it is curious for a civil servant to respond. Sam Mannan, the Sabah Forestry Department director released a statement yesterday that the allegations were unfounded and that they were politically motivated. He seemed to be speaking on behalf of Musa as if he is beholden to the latter. This person who is supposed to be apolitical is making political noises – very unbecoming!

Anyway, not surprisingly, Mannan confirmed that there was indeed illegal logging in the state, although he disputed the $90 million because that would be equivalent to 20,000 hectares of forests being felled, which he said was “exaggerated” – if you read my blogpost dated September 04, 2012 at this link http://helpvictor.blogspot.com/2012/09/swiss-probe-into-ubs-links-to-musa-aman.html, there was no mention that all of $90 million was timber profits – so this guy was jumping the gun! Now the disconcerting part! If the criminal money laundering probe into UBS is not just about the proceeds from illegal logging, it means that there were other illicit sources of funds! Now what has Musa Aman been up to?

But the whole point of the matter is that there is nothing to be afraid of if you did no wrong! Just tell Musa to give his full cooperation to the Swiss government and all will be well – if he is clean, that is!

The SUBS Student Concilium organized SUBS Week last week and it started on a high note on Monday when Evan Chang and other SUBS students presented a queue of high-energy dances – check out the flash mobsters below!

And although I missed the events on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I did participate along with other faculty members in “The Amazing Race” on Friday. My team came in ninth position – not bad, eh?

Swiss Probe into UBS Links to Musa Aman

Reuters news agency on Saturday reported that Swiss prosecutors have opened a criminal money laundering probe into UBS after environmental campaign group, Bruno Manser Fund, filed a complaint in May accusing it of links to the proceeds of alleged illegal logging in Sabah, Malaysia.

The investigation could be a new embarrassment for the Swiss bank, fined for helping clients dodge US taxes in 2009 and facing similar accusations – which it denies – in Germany. It comes as Switzerland is trying to clean up its image as a haven for ill-gotten gains.

In its complaint, the Bruno Manser Fund accused UBS of breaching its duty of care by accepting more than $90 million it said was earned unlawfully in Sabah. Citing documents it presented to Swiss prosecutors, it said the money was banked at UBS in Hong Kong and Zurich. Sabah chief minister Musa Aman (above left) was named in the complaint.

I was at Old Klang Road last evening where I participated in the Money & You Toastmasters Club’s Humorous Speech & Evaluation Contests. There were seven contestants in the former and six contenders in the latter. And I took part in both. I believe I did well in the Humorous Speech contest – my speech title was ‘The Meaning of Life” but as for the Evaluation contest, I did just okay. In any case, I won both the contersts and hey, it is a great feeling! Congrats also to Ken Tsurumara and Jacy Wee for finishing in second place in the contests respectively. The champion and first runner-up will now proceed to the Area G3 contests.