The chief constable of West Midlands Police has retired after his force used fictional output from Microsoft Copilot in deciding to ban Israeli fans from attending a football match at Birmingham club Aston Villa.
Chief Constable Craig Guildford, 52, retired from England's third-largest police force on 16 January. He was due to meet his boss, Simon Foster, Police and Crime Commissioner for the West Midlands, on January 27.
He had earlier written to the chair of the House of Commons home affairs committee to apologize for incorrectly saying his officers had not used generative artificial intelligence (AI) when researching whether to block Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending a Europa League match against Aston Villa on 6 November 2025.
West Midlands Police made its decision to block the away fans partly based on reports of disruption at a non-existent match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and London club West Ham.
On 6 January, Guildford told MPs on the home affairs committee that officers had found this material through a Google search that did not involve use of AI functions. "We do not use AI," he said in evidence to MPs.
In a letter on 12 January, however, Guildford said he had since realized that the made-up material had in fact come from a generative AI tool:
"I 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 (sic)."
Home secretary Shabana Mahmood had earlier said she had no confidence in Guildford, although any decision on his employment was up to the West Midlands police and crime commissioner.
As well as questions over where it had found material, the force was criticized for taking an anti-Israeli stance in making its decision.
Generative AI tools have previously made up cases cited by lawyers in both the US and the UK. In October, consultancy Deloitte refunded A$440,000 to the Australian government after using generative AI in writing a report that featured made-up references and footnotes. ®
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