KPMG partner in Oz turned to AI to pass an exam on... AI
(2026/02/16)
- Reference: 1771257248
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2026/02/16/kpmg_partner_in_oz_turned/
- Source link:
AIpocolypse A partner at accounting and consultancy giant KPMG in Australia was forced to cough up a AU$10k ($7,084/ £5,195) fine after he used AI to ace an internal training course on... AI.
Faced with questions on the use of AI, the unnamed partner uploaded training materials to an AI platform to help generate his response, according to a [1]report in the FT.
The partner was just one of more than two dozen staff who have been rumbled for using AI tooling while taking internal exams, the consulting giant confirmed.
[2]
The unnamed KPMG partner's attempted use of AI on an internal test was first reported by the Australian Financial Review, and was flagged up in an Australian senate inquiry into governance.
[3]
[4]
Barbara Pocock, a senator with Australia's Greens party, referred to a "misdemeanor" at the firm, and said she was disappointed with the fine. "We've got a toothless system where con artists... get away with so much," she [5]told a parliamentary committee last week.
KPMG Australia chief exec Andrew Yates was quoted as saying it was "grappling" with the impact of AI when it comes to internal training and testing.
[6]
"It's a very hard thing to get on top of given how quickly society has embraced it," he said.
A KPMG spokesperson confirmed the FT story and told The Register the "two dozen" figure was confined to Australia. No similar reports have emerged outside the antipodes, apparently.
The accounting and consulting biz is not alone in its struggle. Rival [7]Deloitte Australia had to refund a large chunk of the fee for a report it produced for the Australian government last year.
[8]
The report was littered with AI hallucinations, including imagined quotes from a court ruling and non-existent academic research.
[9]GPT-5 bests human judges in legal smack down
[10]$8K laundry bot knows when to hold 'em, knows when to fold 'em, and knows it has help standing by
[11]Pope warns flock to raise their faces, protect their voices in fightback against AI
[12]AI: The ultimate slacker's dream come true
[13]McKinsey wonders how to sell AI apps with no measurable benefits
In the UK, West Midlands' chief constable Craig Guildford was [14]prompted into retirement earlier this year after it emerged his force relied on Copilot when considering whether to block Israeli football fans from an Aston Villa - Maccabi Tel Aviv match.
The research threw up concerns about disruption at a match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and West Ham. The only problem being no such match occurred.
Guildford's acting successor, Scott Green, said the matter is being investigated by IPSO and the force's own professional standards department. In the meantime, he said, [15]Copilot had been switched off across the force . For now, at least. ®
Get our [16]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.ft.com/content/c30ded60-bece-45e0-981d-653e1e3e9818
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aZNNMHvsz1Yu8dTPhR2bkAAAAIk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aZNNMHvsz1Yu8dTPhR2bkAAAAIk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aZNNMHvsz1Yu8dTPhR2bkAAAAIk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Hansard/Hansard_Display?bid=committees/estimate/29369/&sid=0008
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aZNNMHvsz1Yu8dTPhR2bkAAAAIk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/06/deloitte_ai_report_australia/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aZNNMHvsz1Yu8dTPhR2bkAAAAIk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/15/gpt5_bests_human_judges_in/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/12/laundry_folding_robot_8000_dollars_teleoperated/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/27/pope_warns_flock_to_raise/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/06/at_last_microsoft_leads_the/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/09/mckinsey_ai_monetization/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/19/copper_chief_cops_it_after/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/28/microsoft_copilot_wmp/
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Faced with questions on the use of AI, the unnamed partner uploaded training materials to an AI platform to help generate his response, according to a [1]report in the FT.
The partner was just one of more than two dozen staff who have been rumbled for using AI tooling while taking internal exams, the consulting giant confirmed.
[2]
The unnamed KPMG partner's attempted use of AI on an internal test was first reported by the Australian Financial Review, and was flagged up in an Australian senate inquiry into governance.
[3]
[4]
Barbara Pocock, a senator with Australia's Greens party, referred to a "misdemeanor" at the firm, and said she was disappointed with the fine. "We've got a toothless system where con artists... get away with so much," she [5]told a parliamentary committee last week.
KPMG Australia chief exec Andrew Yates was quoted as saying it was "grappling" with the impact of AI when it comes to internal training and testing.
[6]
"It's a very hard thing to get on top of given how quickly society has embraced it," he said.
A KPMG spokesperson confirmed the FT story and told The Register the "two dozen" figure was confined to Australia. No similar reports have emerged outside the antipodes, apparently.
The accounting and consulting biz is not alone in its struggle. Rival [7]Deloitte Australia had to refund a large chunk of the fee for a report it produced for the Australian government last year.
[8]
The report was littered with AI hallucinations, including imagined quotes from a court ruling and non-existent academic research.
[9]GPT-5 bests human judges in legal smack down
[10]$8K laundry bot knows when to hold 'em, knows when to fold 'em, and knows it has help standing by
[11]Pope warns flock to raise their faces, protect their voices in fightback against AI
[12]AI: The ultimate slacker's dream come true
[13]McKinsey wonders how to sell AI apps with no measurable benefits
In the UK, West Midlands' chief constable Craig Guildford was [14]prompted into retirement earlier this year after it emerged his force relied on Copilot when considering whether to block Israeli football fans from an Aston Villa - Maccabi Tel Aviv match.
The research threw up concerns about disruption at a match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and West Ham. The only problem being no such match occurred.
Guildford's acting successor, Scott Green, said the matter is being investigated by IPSO and the force's own professional standards department. In the meantime, he said, [15]Copilot had been switched off across the force . For now, at least. ®
Get our [16]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.ft.com/content/c30ded60-bece-45e0-981d-653e1e3e9818
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aZNNMHvsz1Yu8dTPhR2bkAAAAIk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aZNNMHvsz1Yu8dTPhR2bkAAAAIk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aZNNMHvsz1Yu8dTPhR2bkAAAAIk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Hansard/Hansard_Display?bid=committees/estimate/29369/&sid=0008
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aZNNMHvsz1Yu8dTPhR2bkAAAAIk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/06/deloitte_ai_report_australia/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aZNNMHvsz1Yu8dTPhR2bkAAAAIk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/15/gpt5_bests_human_judges_in/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/12/laundry_folding_robot_8000_dollars_teleoperated/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/27/pope_warns_flock_to_raise/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/06/at_last_microsoft_leads_the/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/09/mckinsey_ai_monetization/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/19/copper_chief_cops_it_after/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/28/microsoft_copilot_wmp/
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
IamAProton
"The report was littered with AI ERRORS AND FALSE STATEMENTS, including imagined quotes from a court ruling and non-existent academic research."
FTFY
So what’s wrong with this?
Rich 2
Isn’t this kind of thing exactly what the LLM peddlers are selling AI on? Difficult to complain when someone actually followed the hype
"We've got a toothless system where con artists... get away with so much,"
Timo
Is she describing AI, or the whole ecosystem of consulting practices?
But surely all these firms are telling their staff to use AI. I suppose only customers are to be served slop.