Australian Teen Social Media Ban Report Suspected of Containing AI Hallucinated Citations, Author Admits Using ChatGPT

According to The Guardian, the core report supporting Australia's teenage social media ban has been identified as containing multiple AI hallucination errors. The report was commissioned by the UK agency Age Check Certification Scheme (ACCS) at a cost of $3.48 million to test age verification technology. The Guardian's analysis revealed at least six errors in academic citations within the report, including links to non-existent papers and DOIs pointing to the wrong articles. ACCS initially denied using AI, then admitted to using ChatGPT to rewrite some paragraphs, but insisted that all citations were manually verified. Relevant Australian government departments have now intervened in the investigation, and experts warn that false citations could lead to incorrect decisions and damage public trust in government agencies.