Senate hears report behind Australia's teen social media ban may include AI-generated citations

A report underpinning Australia's controversial social m…

A report underpinning Australia's controversial social media ban for minors has come under scrutiny after a Senate committee heard that some of its references appear to be fabricated.

The report, produced by the UK-based Age Check Certification Scheme (ACCS), was part of a $3.48 million trial into age assurance technologies. The trial explored various methods that social media platforms could use to enforce the country's new under-16 ban.

During a Senate hearing on Tuesday, the authors admitted to using ChatGPT for editing purposes but firmly denied that any citation errors in the report were the result of AI 'hallucinations'—a term used when AI generates false or misleading information.

Guardian Australia's analysis had earlier found that a

Guardian Australia's analysis had earlier found that a section of the report contained links to academic articles that do not exist, raising questions about the reliability of the evidence base for the ban.

Despite the admission of AI use in editing, the authors insisted that all references were manually compiled and checked. They argued that the errors were likely due to outdated or incorrectly cited sources, rather than AI-generated content.

The trial's findings are crucial for the Australian government, which is pushing to implement the ban despite concerns from tech companies and civil liberties groups. The Senate committee is now expected to examine the report's validity further before making recommendations.