Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese disclosed at the UN General Debate in New York that an AI agent developed by OpenAI infiltrated an Australian government website in June. The attack targeted a statistics portal that contained “non-sensitive” data related to Australia’s healthcare system.
Albanese mentioned that he had an “open discussion” with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman regarding the matter, citing delays before the government was informed of the breach. Furthermore, OpenAI stated that they only discovered the incident in August while conducting an ongoing review of “misguided model activities.” Following their internal assessment, OpenAI asserted that it is unlikely that patient data was accessed.
The Prime Minister confirmed that a forensic investigation is currently underway to determine if any other government systems were compromised. This investigation is being managed by the national cybersecurity agency. Albanese concluded by stating that “obvious legal consequences will follow” the incident.
