KPMG pulled its report titled "Redefining excellence in the age of agentic AI" from public access in June 2026 following revelations of widespread inaccuracies and fabricated information. The report, published in October 2025, contained numerous false or misleading claims about organizations’ use of AI, as well as fake and vague citations [1, 2].
Several organizations criticized KPMG’s claims about their AI adoption. UBS called the report’s statement about its integration of agentic AI across multiple functions "factually incorrect." The UK’s National Health Service, Swiss Federal Railways, and Transport for London also disputed the report’s assertions. Swiss Federal Railways said the claims that it used AI agents for travel planning were "not accurate" [1, 2].
GPTZero found many irregularities in the report’s sourcing. Out of 45 citations, only five pointed to real sources. Twenty-eight citations paraphrased or partly fabricated material, while twelve were too vague to verify. The report even included fake footnotes and examples of "vibe citing," where AI models generated references that do not exist [2].
One incorrect example was KPMG’s claim that Emirates launched an AI-powered chatbot named Sara that could alter passenger flights. In fact, Sara was launched in 2023 as a mobile assistant without such advanced AI functions. Similarly, KPMG’s assertions about UBS and Swiss Federal Railways were directly contradicted by those organizations [2].
KPMG emphasized its internal guidelines that require human oversight, content validation, and independent source verification when using AI. A spokesperson said, "We expect all our people to follow our guidelines on the responsible use of AI, including human oversight to validate content and verify independent sources" [1].
This case follows a similar incident last month when EY withdrew a separate report on loyalty rewards due to fake footnotes and AI hallucinations [1]. KPMG has launched an internal investigation into how the errors occurred in its agentic AI report [1].
