{"slug": "mayor-says-large-chunks-of-wellington-council-deloitte-report-written-by-ai", "title": "Mayor says 'large chunks' of Wellington council Deloitte report written by AI", "summary": "Wellington mayor Andrew Little said on Newstalk ZB that 'large chunks' of a $435,000 Deloitte report on council staffing were written by artificial intelligence, as the report's credibility faces scrutiny over data errors. The Future Fit Pōneke report, released in November, claimed the council had 330 excess staff, but council papers say the figure should be 284 and that the assumptions were 'inherently flawed'. Deloitte has stood by the report, stating it uses AI-enabled tools where appropriate and that human sign-off is required.", "body_md": "# Mayor says ‘large chunks’ of Wellington council Deloitte report written by AI\n\nWellington mayor Andrew Little has said in a radio interview that a significant amount of a $435,000 Deloitte report on the council's staffing levels was written by artificial intelligence, as the report's credibility comes under increasing scrutiny.\n\nThe [Future Fit Pōneke report](https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/360898279/wellington-city-council-too-many-staff-time-right-sizing-new-report-shows) released last November claimed the council had 330 excess staff, but it later emerged Deloitte had [double-counted](https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/360921011/empty-desks-counted-wellington-city-council-over-staffing-report) current employees with vacant roles and [relied on three-year old employment data](https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/361067865/consultants-council-staffing-report-faces-fresh-scrutiny-over-alleged-data-errors) from the Taxpayers' Union.\n\nIn a Tuesday interview on Newstalk ZB, Little said \"large chunks\" of the report were \"written by AI\", but did not elaborate on the scale or which sections were produced that way.\n\nHe said the report offered some useful insight - particularly its finding that the council's contract management systems were a \"disaster\" - but described the remainder as \"frankly, just a waste of time\".\n\nLittle's office referred a request for comment from Local Democracy Reporting to a paper submitted to a council meeting last week, which detailed further errors in the report - including Deloitte counting all employees at their full-time salary, regardless of the hours they worked, and overstating staffing expensed by $21.5 million.\n\nThe firm also assumed roles with \"project\" in the title were a duplicate job.\n\n\"The incorrect data usage means that the assumptions used to construct the recommendation to reduce the organisation by 330 FTE were inherently flawed,\" the council papers said.\n\nA more accurate number would be 284, but that did not take other potential incorrect assumptions into account.\n\nDeloitte has been asked for comment following Little's Tuesday interview, but the firm has previously stood by the report.\n\n\"Deloitte uses a range of tools and technologies across its work, including AI-enabled tools where appropriate,\" a spokesperson said last week, adding a human needed to sign off any analysis, findings and conclusions.\n\n\"We are satisfied that the report's conclusions reflect the work performed and the professional judgement applied throughout the engagement.\"\n\n*LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.*", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/mayor-says-large-chunks-of-wellington-council-deloitte-report-written-by-ai", "canonical_source": "https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/regions/1229348/mayor-says-large-chunks-of-wellington-council-deloitte-report-written-by-ai", "published_at": "2026-09-02 07:50:46+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-02 08:22:44.742509+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence"], "entities": ["Andrew Little", "Deloitte", "Wellington City Council", "Future Fit Pōneke", "Newstalk ZB", "Taxpayers' Union", "Local Democracy Reporting", "RNZ"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/mayor-says-large-chunks-of-wellington-council-deloitte-report-written-by-ai", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/mayor-says-large-chunks-of-wellington-council-deloitte-report-written-by-ai.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/mayor-says-large-chunks-of-wellington-council-deloitte-report-written-by-ai.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/mayor-says-large-chunks-of-wellington-council-deloitte-report-written-by-ai.jsonld"}}