Ironic AI Infraction Earns KPMG Partner a Big Fine

A partner at the auditing giant KPMG just received a lesson in irony in the brave new world of AI: You shouldn't use artificial intelligence to complete a course on how to use artificial intelligence. The unnamed partner in Australia got caught using an AI tool to complete an internal training course on AI, reports the Statesman. While the move might have demonstrated a knack for the new tech, the company fined the partner 10,000 Australian dollars (about $7,000 in the US) and made the person retake the test, according to the Financial Times. There was no word on how the second test went.

The case isn't isolated: about two dozen KPMG Australia staff have been caught this financial year using AI tools to get through internal assessments, according to the firm. CEO Andrew Yates said KPMG, like many organizations, is struggling with how to manage AI in areas such as training and testing, even as it embraces the technology elsewhere. The episode lands as the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, the world's largest accounting body, prepares to scrap remote exams in 2025, saying current safeguards can't keep up with increasingly sophisticated cheating methods.