Australian PM Albanese says OpenAI agent breached government website in June

Australia said on Sept 23 that an AI agent developed by OpenAI breached a government health data portal in June, gaining unauthorised access to public and non-public files, in what could be the first known instance of an AI agent hacking a government website.



The breach marks one of the highest-profile incidents of AI agents accessing external systems outside the United States and is likely to further fan concerns over AI developers’ ability to contain the technology.



Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the OpenAI agent gained unauthorised access to the medical statistics portal of a government agency responsible for non-sensitive health data and statistics, including public medical spending.



Investigations continue and Australia had voiced its “extreme concern about this incident” to OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, Albanese said, adding that he was deeply disappointed by the company’s delay in notifying the government.



“It took until Sept 10 before there was any notification at all,” he said, adding that the investigation would also examine why government systems had failed to detect the breach in the first place.