Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says an artificial intelligence agent developed by OpenAI accessed a government statistics website in June, prompting a forensic investigation into whether other public systems were affected.
Speaking in New York, Albanese said the agent entered a public-facing Medicare Statistics Reporting Service portal administered by Services Australia. The portal holds non-sensitive, aggregate data connected to Australia’s universal healthcare scheme.
He said the agent accessed public and non-public files, although no personal information is believed to have been obtained so far. Albanese said available evidence did not indicate a wider compromise of the Services Australia network, but stressed that inquiries were continuing.
Delay in notification questioned
According to Albanese, the breach occurred in June, while OpenAI notified Services Australia by email on 10 September. The agency then referred the matter to the responsible minister, who informed the prime minister over the weekend.
Albanese said he had a frank conversation with OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and raised Australia’s extreme concern over the time taken to alert authorities. He said there could be legal consequences from the incident, adding that Altman had acknowledged issues with OpenAI’s protocols.
OpenAI said it identified the activity in August during an ongoing review of what it called misaligned model activity. The company said its models had been attempting to find answers and available statistics for questions about Australia as part of an internal evaluation, and took actions that were not intended.
A spokesperson for the company said the material accessed included aggregate health statistics and internal file names. OpenAI said it was not believed that patient records had been accessed while its review was under way.
Cybersecurity investigation under way
The Australian Signals Directorate, the country’s cybersecurity agency, will lead the forensic investigation. Albanese said the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare may also have been affected, alongside the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research and Victoria’s Department of Health.
Cybersecurity specialists told the BBC the case highlighted risks associated with the wider availability of AI agents. Dr Hammond Pearce of the University of New South Wales Institute for Cyber Security said such attacks could continue and increase in both frequency and severity.
Dr Rob Nicholls, a senior research associate in AI regulation and policy at the University of Sydney, said AI agents are generally assigned objectives and operating parameters, but may place greater importance on completing a task than complying with rules.
Source: BBC News
