Deloitte’s $1.6 million Canadian healthcare report flagged for AI errors — weeks after its Australia report scandal

Deloitte has been found to have issued a million-dollar report for the Canadian provincial government of Newfoundland and Labrador, allegedly riddled with artificial intelligence (AI) related errors, Fortune reported.

This comes just a month after the big four services company was caught using AI to help produce a report for the Australian government, that was later also found to have multiple errors, and it had to partially refund a $4,40,000 fee.

The allegations were first published by Canadian publication the Independent.

Gail Tomblin Murphy, an adjunct professor in the School of Nursing at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia told the Independent that these findings suggest Deloitte is “heavily using AI to generate work”. She was among the one of the authors cited in an academic paper that “does not exist.”

What has Deloitte said?

In a statement to Fortune, a spokesperson for Deloitte Canada said the firm “stands behind the recommendations put forward” in the report, adding, “We are revising the report to make a small number of citation corrections, which do not impact the report findings. AI was not used to write the report; it was selectively used to support a small number of research citations.”

Newfoundland and Labrador’s Department of Health and Community Services and the Office of the Premier did not respond to queries, it added. There has also not been a public statement on the matter from either.

Deloitte report for Canada govt with AI errors: What happened?

The easternmost Canadian province's government commissioned Deloitte to produce a healthcare report for close to $1.6 million that was disseminated in May 2025. The 526-page report has now been found to have several errors potentially linked to use of AI, it added.

The Deloitte report advised the province's health department on various topics, including impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers, rentention incentives and virtual care, Fortune reported. It added that the study was commissioned as the province faces a shortage of healthcare staff.

Among the errors spotted were citations to fictional academic papers, which were used to conclude cost-analysis; citations to authors on papers they had no involvement with; and citations of coauthors who had never worked together, the report said.

Deloitte repaid Australian govt for AI blunders

In October, Deloitte agreed to partially refund the Australian government a $4,40,000 fee after admitting it used generative AI to help produce a report that was later found to have multiple errors.

The country's Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) had commissioned the firm in 2024 to assess the targeted compliance framework and its supporting IT system, which automatically issues penalties to job seekers who fail to meet their mutual obligation requirements.

Errors were found after the Australian Financial Review (AFR) exposed multiple inaccuracies within the document, such as non-existent references and fabricated citations, leading to widespread criticism.

Deloitte in its statement then also maintained that the use of AI did not alter the “substantive content, findings or recommendations” of the report.