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

<p><strong>Exclusive:</strong> 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</p><ul><li><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2026/aug/17/australia-politics-live-labor-work-rights-visa-holders-anthony-albanese-angus-taylor-pauline-hanson-liberal-party-one-nation-ntwnfb">Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates</a></p></li><li><p>Get our <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/email-newsletters?CMP=cvau_sfl">breaking news email</a>, <a href="https://app.adjust.com/w4u7jx3">free app</a> or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/series/full-story?CMP=cvau_sfl">daily news podcast</a></p></li></ul><p>The authors of a report testing the technology underpinning Australia’s social media ban have conceded ChatGPT was used in editing, but denied a number of citation errors in the report were due to AI hallucinations.</p><p>The $3.48m <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/aug/31/age-assurance-technology-trial-report-australia-under-16-social-media-ban-some-errors-inevitable">age assurance technology trial</a>, 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.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/aug/17/australia-social-media-ban-report-ai-hallucinations-ntwnfb">Continue reading...</a>