KPMG Report on Agentic AI Found to Have Many Fabricated Citations

KPMG published the report titled Total Experience: Redefining Excellence in the Age of Agentic AI in October 2025. The document described how companies are using AI to meet customer needs. GPTZero investigators later examined its 45 citations and found that only five accurately pointed to real sources.

Twenty-eight citations paraphrased titles or added fabricated elements to real sources. Twelve more were too vague to confirm whether the sources existed. GPTZero also determined that approximately half of the claims in the report were fake or misattributed.

The Financial Times verified the inaccuracies and fake footnotes identified by GPTZero. One example in the KPMG report stated that Emirates launched a mobile chatbot called Sara that could talk to passengers and change their flights. Sara was a mobile assistant launched in 2023 and was not an AI-powered chatbot, and it lacked the ability to alter bookings.

Another example claimed that Swiss Federal Railways has AI agents that help passengers plan, book, and optimize trips based on preferences, real-time conditions, and carbon impact. GPTZero said the errors were likely produced when an AI research tool over-complied with a request to find examples of agentic AI.

KPMG is one of the Big Four accounting firms, alongside Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Ernst & Young.

Edward Tian, chief executive of GPTZero, stated that error-riddled papers published by the Big Four could poison the well of information and lead to second-hand AI hallucinations.