Craig Guildford, the chief constable of West Midlands Police, has resigned following a significant error involving the use of artificial intelligence. His force decided to ban Israeli fans from a football match based on a fictional report generated by Microsoft Copilot, which they initially claimed not to have used. On January 16, Guildford retired from his position, just days before a scheduled meeting with the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, Simon Foster. The controversy stems from a decision made on November 6, 2025, to block Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending a Europa League match against Aston Villa. The police cited disruptions from a non-existent match against West Ham as part of their reasoning. Guildford testified to a parliamentary committee that his officers had not employed AI in their research, only to later acknowledge that the misleading information had indeed come from the AI tool. He issued an apology in a letter on January 12, admitting that the erroneous match details were a product of Microsoft Copilot. Criticism of the West Midlands Police also focused on their perceived anti-Israeli stance in the decision-making process. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood expressed a lack of confidence in Guildford's leadership, leaving any employment decisions to the local police commissioner. This incident is part of a growing trend where generative AI has produced fabricated information used in various professional contexts, raising serious concerns about the reliability of AI tools.