Accenture reportedly publishes new research paper littered with what appear to be AI-hallucinations
The Leapfrogging Development paper has 15 inaccuracies that have been identified so far
Accenture, which has been demanding its employees embrace AI, has denied that the errors were due to the technology
Top consultancy firm Accenture is under fire once again for publishing papers that include proven AI hallucinations. The most notable of these, written in collaboration with IE University in Madrid, is titled “Leapfrogging Development: Unlocking Africa’s Potential in Global Value Chains with Artificial Intelligence” and has 15 inaccuracies. The AI hallucinations were found by AI-detection software publisher GPTZero, which regularly performs analysis on significant new reports. It lists a total of 31 inaccuracies across three papers, with the lion’s share found in that single policy paper. Spotting the fakes
GPTZero has plenty of previous experience in spotting citation issues with reports from large organizations. A similar scenario developed around auditing giant PwC in August 2026, with GPTZero highlighting their reports as making inaccurate and false claims . With the Accenture-linked “Leapfrogging Development” report, GPTZero determined 15 AI hallucination inaccuracies, along with a further four flawed citations – that is, citations that don’t exist, exist with a different name, or simply don’t support the report…