A major education reform report for Newfoundland and Labrador, a Canadian province, contains at least 15 fabricated citations that experts suspect were generated by artificial intelligence, despite the document explicitly calling for ethical AI use in schools. The irony is particularly striking given that the 418-page report, which took 18 months to complete and serves as a 10-year roadmap for modernizing the province’s education system, includes recommendations for teaching students about AI ethics and responsible technology use.
What you should know: The fake citations include references to non-existent sources that bear hallmarks of AI-generated content.
- One citation references a 2008 National Film Board movie called “Schoolyard Games” that doesn’t exist, according to a board spokesperson.
- The fake citation appears to have been copied directly from a University of Victoria style guide that uses fictional examples to teach proper formatting—complete with a warning that “Many citations in this guide are fictitious.”
- Aaron Tucker, a Memorial University assistant professor researching AI history, couldn’t locate numerous sources cited in the report despite searching academic databases and Google.
The big picture: This incident highlights a growing problem with AI language models fabricating academic citations that can easily slip past human review because they appear properly formatted and contextually appropriate.
- AI models like those powering ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude excel at producing believable fiction when they lack actual information, prioritizing plausible outputs over accurate ones.
- Even AI models that can search the web for real sources can potentially fabricate citations, choose wrong ones, or mischaracterize them.
Why this matters: The presence of potentially AI-generated fake sources undermines the credibility of official government policy documents at a time when educational institutions are grappling with how to integrate AI responsibly.
- “Errors happen. Made-up citations are a totally different thing where you essentially demolish the trustworthiness of the material,” Josh Lepawsky, former president of the Memorial University Faculty Association, told CBC.
- The report’s 110 recommendations include a specific call for the provincial government to “provide learners and educators with essential AI knowledge, including ethics, data privacy, and responsible technology use.”
What they’re saying: Officials are investigating the citations while experts express concern about the document’s integrity.
- “Around the references I cannot find, I can’t imagine another explanation,” Sarah Martin, a Memorial University political science professor who discovered multiple fabricated citations, told CBC. “This is a citation in a very important document for educational policy.”
- Co-chair Karen Goodnough declined an interview request, writing: “We are investigating and checking references, so I cannot respond to this at the moment.”
- The Department of Education acknowledged awareness of “a small number of potential errors in citations” and said the online report would be updated “in the coming days to rectify any errors.”
Key details: The report, titled “A Vision for the Future: Transforming and Modernizing Education,” was released August 28 and unveiled by co-chairs Anne Burke and Karen Goodnough alongside Education Minister Bernard Davis.
- The document serves as a comprehensive roadmap for modernizing public schools and post-secondary institutions across the province.
- Josh Lepawsky resigned from the report’s advisory board in January, citing a “deeply flawed process.”
Recent Stories
DOE fusion roadmap targets 2030s commercial deployment as AI drives $9B investment
The Department of Energy has released a new roadmap targeting commercial-scale fusion power deployment by the mid-2030s, though the plan lacks specific funding commitments and relies on scientific breakthroughs that have eluded researchers for decades. The strategy emphasizes public-private partnerships and positions AI as both a research tool and motivation for developing fusion energy to meet data centers' growing electricity demands. The big picture: The DOE's roadmap aims to "deliver the public infrastructure that supports the fusion private sector scale up in the 2030s," but acknowledges it cannot commit to specific funding levels and remains subject to Congressional appropriations. Why...
Oct 17, 2025Tying it all together: Credo’s purple cables power the $4B AI data center boom
Credo, a Silicon Valley semiconductor company specializing in data center cables and chips, has seen its stock price more than double this year to $143.61, following a 245% surge in 2024. The company's signature purple cables, which cost between $300-$500 each, have become essential infrastructure for AI data centers, positioning Credo to capitalize on the trillion-dollar AI infrastructure expansion as hyperscalers like Amazon, Microsoft, and Elon Musk's xAI rapidly build out massive computing facilities. What you should know: Credo's active electrical cables (AECs) are becoming indispensable for connecting the massive GPU clusters required for AI training and inference. The company...
Oct 17, 2025Vatican launches Latin American AI network for human development
The Vatican hosted a two-day conference bringing together 50 global experts to explore how artificial intelligence can advance peace, social justice, and human development. The event launched the Latin American AI Network for Integral Human Development and established principles for ethical AI governance that prioritize human dignity over technological advancement. What you should know: The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, the Vatican's research body for social issues, organized the "Digital Rerum Novarum" conference on October 16-17, combining academic research with practical AI applications. Participants included leading experts from MIT, Microsoft, Columbia University, the UN, and major European institutions. The conference...