Report supporting Australia’s teen social media ban appears to contain AI hallucinations, Senate hears

A report supporting Australia's under-16 social media ban, produced by the UK-based Age Check Certification Scheme (ACCS) in a $3.48m age assurance technology trial, appears to contain AI hallucinations, with Guardian analysis finding links to academic articles that do not exist. The authors conceded ChatGPT was used in editing but denied the citation errors were due to AI hallucinations, as heard in a Senate hearing.

Report supporting Australia’s teen social media ban appears to contain AI hallucinations, Senate hears By Josh Taylor and Nick EvershedSource: The Guardian Technology https://www.theguardian.com/us/technology Exclusive: Guardian analysis finds one section of report includes links to academic articles that do not exist, but authors deny the references were made up by AI Get our breaking news email https://www.theguardian.com/email-newsletters?CMP=cvau sfl , free app https://app.adjust.com/w4u7jx3 or daily news podcast https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/series/full-story?CMP=cvau sfl The authors of a report testing the technology underpinning Australia’s social media ban have conceded ChatGPT /compare/chatgpt-vs-claude was used in editing, but denied a number of citation errors in the report were due to AI hallucinations. The $3.48m age assurance technology trial https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/aug/31/age-assurance-technology-trial-report-australia-under-16-social-media-ban-some-errors-inevitable , run by the UK-based Age Check Certification Scheme ACCS last year, tested various types of technology that could be used by social media platforms as part of Australia’s under-16 social media ban. Continue reading... https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/aug/17/australia-social-media-ban-report-ai-hallucinations-ntwnfb Get AI news in your inbox Daily digest of what matters in AI.