An examination of the Education Accord NL final report for Newfoundland and Labrador’s education system has revealed numerous errors, with 38 references to non-existent academic sources being flagged by an independent analysis. The report, which cost the provincial government $750,000, was taken down from the government’s website after university professors raised concerns about fake academic references that appeared to have been generated by artificial intelligence.
The analysis, conducted by Labrador-based publisher Brack and Brine and obtained through access to information legislation, identified nearly 350 references in the report’s bibliography that required corrections. While some issues were minor formatting errors, 38 references were deemed unverifiable by Brack and Brine, with 23 fake references in both the bibliography and text marked for special attention.
Professor Ian Jones from Memorial University expressed alarm at the report’s integrity, emphasizing the significance of accurate references in shaping the report’s conclusions and recommendations. Emails obtained through access to information legislation revealed that, at the province’s request, the report’s co-chairs, Anne Burke and Karen Goodnough, initiated a review of the report with the assistance of Brack and Brine.
Education Minister Paul Dinn acknowledged the use of AI in creating the fake citations and stressed the need for enhanced monitoring to prevent such issues in the future. Despite promises from previous governments, a revised version of the report has yet to be published online. Dinn assured that a cleaned-up version will be released promptly, incorporating feedback from teachers and education professionals who contributed to the original action plan.