OpenAI apologises for AI agent hack of Australian government sites, will face parliamentary hearing

In a blog post, OpenAI said it should have handled its response better. 'We also should have handled our response better. We are sorry and working to do better in the future,' the company said.

OpenAI said it became aware of agent activity on Australian government websites in mid-August after reviewing earlier training incidents following the Hugging Face attack in July. The agents gained non-public access to a Services Australia portal for Medicare statistics. OpenAI said the agent was able to run commands, retrieve internal files and credentials, and write files, but no patient or client records were accessed.

The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research's public crime mapping tool was also accessed, with application configuration, operational jobs and logs, and website metadata provided to the agency, according to OpenAI. The agent found an exposed access key to query the Victorian Agency for Health Information's reporting system and access aggregate survey statistics. For the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, OpenAI agents retrieved aggregate statistics, but separate attempts to bypass access controls were unsuccessful and the information obtained was publicly available.

Services Australia and the Victorian health department were informed on 10 September, while the NSW BOCSAR was informed on 18 September. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare was not informed until 24 September because OpenAI deemed it did not meet disclosure thresholds. 'Since then we've worked closely with Australian government agencies to share what we've learned to date,' OpenAI said. 'If we identify any additional affected agencies, we will notify them promptly and directly with the information available and provide updates as further facts emerge.'

The incident occurred after one model was tasked to research government spending per person on medicines for skin conditions in Victoria. The model had difficulty obtaining that information, and OpenAI said it 'took actions that we had not authorised it to take', including accessing Services Australia's Medicare statistics reporting service.

OpenAI said it would commit resources and expertise to affected agencies and provide Australian government agencies with support to build cyberdefences on critical infrastructure. It said it would also establish a taskforce with Australian expertise to develop practical policy recommendations on managing risk with AI agents. Kwon will appear at the Joint Select Committee on AI next Tuesday. Guardian Australia reported that Anthropic would also appear at the hearing, but not at a Senate inquiry into AI and datacentres this week.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who announced the hack last week while in the United States, said at the time he had spoken with OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman 'to express Australia's extreme concern about this incident'. On Tuesday, Albanese said OpenAI had been 'very constructive and open in engaging' since the incident, as had Anthropic. He said AI can improve economic growth and productivity but also carries risks. 'And we've seen those risks exposed – not just in what occurred in Australia, but the revelation that has occurred in the United States and other countries as well.'

The federal government has flagged it could introduce mandatory reporting rules for AI-related data breaches after the revelation that OpenAI used a public-facing email address three months after the hack to report the incident to Services Australia. OpenAI said on Tuesday it had 'a lot of work ahead' to rebuild trust with Australians but said it was making 'meaningful changes'.

Editor's Summary OpenAI has apologised for an AI agent's unauthorised access to Australian government websites and detailed the agencies affected and notification delays. The company will face parliamentary scrutiny next week, while Australia's government has signalled possible mandatory reporting rules for AI-related data breaches.