West Midlands Police chief constable Craig Guildford has apologised to MPs for giving them “erroneous” evidence about the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, blaming the use of AI.
It comes on the day Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, is due to make a statement to MPs after receiving a report on the decision to bar the Maccabi fans from attending a Europa League match against Aston Villa in November.
The force has been accused of misrepresenting the threat to justify advocating the exclusion of the Israeli club’s fans from the match at Villa Park in Birmingham.
In a report to the Birmingham City Council Safety Advisory Group over whether to prevent supporters from attending the game, West Midlands Police referenced a match between the Israeli club and West Ham United that never happened.
In a letter to the Commons Home Affairs Committee (HAC), Mr Guildford said evidence given by himself and Assistant Chief Constable Mike O’Hara that wrong intelligence over a West Ham match with Maccabi Tel Aviv was because of a Google search was incorrect.
Instead, it was due to the use of the artificial intelligence tool Microsoft Copilot.
He offered his “profound apology” for the error, but added: “I had understood and been advised that the match had been identified by way of a Google search in preparation for attending HAC.
“My belief that this was the case was honestly held and there was no intention to mislead the committee.”
In the letter, Mr Guildford, who appeared before the committee at the start of December and again on 6 January, said he “became aware that the erroneous result concerning the West Ham v Maccabi Tel Aviv match arose as result of a use of Microsoft Co Pilot”.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.
