OpenAI agent hacked Australian government website, Albanese says

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said an OpenAI agent hacked a government website, with the artificial intelligence firm taking three months to alert the government about the breach.

Albanese said he had spoken with OpenAI’s Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman on Wednesday in New York to express “extreme concern about this incident.”

The hack occurred on June 18, OpenAI detected it in August and the Australian government was told on Sept. 10.

“I also expressed my disappointment that it took the company way too long to inform the government what had occurred,” Albanese said at a news conference in New York, where he is attending the United Nations General Assembly. “The nature of the way that the notification occurred as well was unacceptable.”

The Australian leader said he needed to be reassured that the correct protocols to manage AI were in place.

“Mr. Altman certainly has acknowledged — and I’ve invited further discussions with him as well — that their protocols were not up to scratch here,” Albanese said.

At this stage, no personal information is believed to have been accessed in the hack of a healthcare data website, Albanese said, but investigations are ongoing. A forensic examination, aided by the Australian Signals Directorate, is underway to ascertain more information about the breach.

Albanese’s comments come as OpenAI urges the U.S. to lead an effort with other countries to set standards for AI. Earlier on Wednesday in New York, Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei urged world leaders to work together on AI in an appearance before the United Nations Security Council that focused on rising concerns the technology poses existential risks to humanity.

A recent series of breaches by agentic AI systems have sparked worldwide debate over the escalating risks of AI and the measures required to mitigate them.