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Tromsø Municipality in Norway faced a public scandal after it was discovered that a report proposing school and kindergarten closures contained numerous fabricated academic sources. Officials admitted to using generative AI to draft the report without proper verification. The incident resulted in significant public distrust and the temporary suspension of the closure plan.
In February 2025, Tromsø Municipality reportedly presented a report proposing the closure of schools and kindergartens. Residents reportedly later discovered the report cited numerous non-existent sources. Officials reportedly admitted using generative AI to help draft the report, leading to fabricated references. The incident reportedly led to public outcry and suspension of the closure plan. It is purportedly Norway’s first major public-sector AI scandal.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
AI systems that inadvertently generate or spread incorrect or deceptive information, which can lead to inaccurate beliefs in users and undermine their autonomy. Humans that make decisions based on false beliefs can experience physical, emotional or material harms
Also classified as
The municipal administration relied on the AI chatbot to generate factual citations for a public report without verifying the accuracy of the outputs.
The AI system generated false and misleading information in the form of fabricated academic citations, which were then published in an official municipal report.
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Unintentional
Due to an unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed
The risk was directly caused by the AI system's hallucination of non-existent academic sources, which was an unintended outcome of using the model.
Added categories peak at 2: Minor (Epistemic Harm, Direct)
Tromso Municipality in Norway used generative AI to draft a policy report, which hallucinated academic citations. This led to public distrust and a temporary suspension of local school closure hearings. The incident represents a localized administrative failure with minor impact on government functions and negligible national security implications.
The AI system acted as a writing assistant to help the municipal administration draft a report, providing suggestions and text that required human oversight and verification.
Limited Risk: The system used was a general-purpose chatbot or text generator used to assist in writing, which falls under the category of chatbots and AI-generated content requiring transparency.
The AI was used by the municipal administration to draft a 120-page report and generate supporting text and references.
The reports clearly outline the incident, the specific AI failure (hallucinated citations), the actors involved (Tromso municipality, the professors), and the immediate consequences (suspension of the school closure plan). There is no conflicting information regarding the core facts.
None
Technology
AI Hallucination of References
The chatbot fabricated fictional academic books and citations.
Unreliable Fact Retrieval
Generative AI models prioritize fluency over factual accuracy.
Data Inputs
Biased Prompting to AI
AI was used to find sources supporting a predetermined conclusion.
Human Factors
Blind Trust in AI Outputs
Staff assumed the generated bibliography was accurate without checking.
Lack of AI Literacy
Users did not understand that LLMs frequently hallucinate sources.
Process and Methods
No Quality Assurance Process
The municipality lacked a workflow to verify report citations.
Inadequate Fact Checking
Fictional sources were published because nobody cross-checked them.
Management
Rushed Decision Making
Management pressured staff to quickly justify school closures.
Poor Leadership Oversight
Leaders failed to monitor how administrative reports were compiled.
Regulatory Environment
Missing AI Regulations
No clear public sector guidelines existed for using AI in reports.
