A Microsoft AI assistant helped generate false claims that were later used by a UK police force to justify banning Israeli football supporters from a major European match, and the fallout has now claimed a chief constable.
A blistering report by the Home Affairs Committee found that inaccurate material produced via Microsoft Copilot fed directly into West Midlands Police briefings ahead of Aston Villa’s Europa League fixture against Maccabi Tel Aviv in November 2025.
Those claims were repeated in Safety Advisory Group meetings and in oral evidence to MPs. Only later did officers admit the information had come from an AI query.
Among the errors was a reference to a match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and West Ham United that never happened. Other claims exaggerated disorder linked to a previous fixture in Amsterdam, including assertions about large-scale organised violence targeting Muslim communities.
MPs revealed that some of the “key claims” originated from Copilot. Senior officers then quoted the material without verifying it independently.
Police initially denied AI was responsible. After two parliamentary hearings and a written correction, former Chief Constable Craig Guildford conceded that Copilot had been used. He has since retired early after apologising for misleading the committee, though MPs concluded he had not deliberately done so.
The committee found that West Midlands Police overstated the threat posed by...
A Microsoft AI assistant helped generate false claims that were later used by a UK police force to justify banning Israeli football supporters from a major European match, and the fallout has now ...