The Information · AI Agent · OpenAI · Sam Altman · New York · BBC Technology
OpenAI agent 'infiltrated' Australian government website, PM confirms
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An artificial intelligence agent developed by OpenAI "infiltrated" an Australian government website in June, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said.
Key facts
- The Hugging Face incident showed what can happen when an AI agent was not "well behaved", Dr Rob Nicholls, Senior Research Associate of AI regulation and policy at the University of Sydney, told
- Albanese declined to answer whether he raised the matter with US President Donald Trump during their face-to-face meeting on Tuesday night in New York, where world leaders have gathered for the UN
- Albanese noted that a federal agency, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, "may have been impacted", in addition to two state-based agencies: the New South Wales (NSW) Bureau of Crime
- Australia was one of 22 countries that this month signed a joint statement calling for global oversight and guardrails for the development of AI, external
Summary
The agent hacked a statistics portal containing "non-sensitive" data from Australia's universal healthcare scheme Medicare, Albanese said in New York on Wednesday, local time. He had a "frank discussion" with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman for taking "too long" to tell them about the breach, believed to be one of the world's first publicly reported AI-led hacks of a government website. OpenAI said it only became aware of the incident in August "during an ongoing review" of "misaligned model activity", and told Australian officials on 10 September. While the review was ongoing, OpenAI said it was not believed any patient records were accessed.