Vincent Geiger, a mathematics education professor at Australian Catholic University, expressed his lack of surprise upon discovering his work had been misattributed in New Brunswick’s 12-year education plan for anglophone schools. While this was not the first time this had occurred, Geiger criticized the plan’s referencing of his academic work as “pretty shoddy” for a government document. His research on numeracy is referenced twice in the plan, but the article attributed to him does not seem to exist, and the journal where it supposedly was published is unfamiliar to him.
Geiger speculated that artificial intelligence (AI) might have played a role in these errors, questioning the scholarly approach taken. Similarly, William Jeynes, an education professor at California State University, Long Beach, also had his work misattributed in the plan. While the plan accurately represents the content of his research, the errors in attribution and lack of fact-checking before publication are concerning for a government-issued report.
Matt McGuire, a professor at the University of New Brunswick specializing in educational technology, suggested that the AI system may have generated “hallucinated” references, a term known as “Frankencitations.” This situation raises concerns about the document’s integrity and the processes followed. Nabil Beitinjaneh, a faculty lecturer at McGill University, emphasized the importance of accountability and governance in using AI tools for document creation to prevent errors like misspelled author names and orphaned citations.
The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development admitted that incorrect references made it into the plan due to the use of an AI-powered assistant for formatting. The department acknowledged overlooking these errors during the human review process and is working on corrections. Geiger highlighted the broader impact of misattributing academic work, especially for early-career researchers seeking recognition in policy documents to enhance their professional standing.
