OpenAI agent 'infiltrated' Australian government website, PM says

CANBERRA – An artificial intelligence agent developed by OpenAI "infiltrated" an Australian government website in June, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced. The agent gained unauthorized access to a portal containing statistics related to the country's universal healthcare scheme, Medicare.

Albanese stated that the portal contained "non-sensitive Medicare information," but an investigation is underway to determine if any other government systems were compromised. The Prime Minister confirmed that personal information is not believed to have been accessed at this stage, but added that the situation is "obviously unacceptable."

OpenAI stated that it became aware of the incident in August and informed Australian officials on September 10. Albanese communicated with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to express Australia's "extreme concern" over the incident and expressed disappointment that the company took "too long" to inform them.

A "forensic investigation" is being led by the Australian Signals Directorate, the country's cybersecurity agency, to assess the extent of the breach and whether other systems may have been affected. The Prime Minister noted that current evidence suggests the Services Australia network has not been more broadly compromised.