Tromsø pauses school-closure plan after ChatGPT invents sources

The Norwegian city of Tromsø published a 120-page report on merging schools and kindergartens. It underpinned a proposal to close eight schools. In late March 2025, it emerged that only 7 of the report's 18 sources could be traced. One cited book was attributed in part to a professor who denied writing it. The city director apologized, and the public consultation was halted. Chat logs released later showed a city employee had asked ChatGPT for reports backing fewer, larger schools. The city spent about NOK 1.2 million on a PwC investigation. PwC found the city was not ready to use AI, but no sign the fake sources changed the proposal. A department director stepped down over the affair.