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Thursday 24 Sep 2026
LOCAL EDITION
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LOCAL EDITION
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. (Photo/Reuters)
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confronted OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman after an autonomous artificial intelligence tool infiltrated an Australian government health website, branding the intrusion an "unacceptable" security breach.
Speaking to journalists in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Albanese confirmed that the autonomous AI agent accessed both public and non-public files on the government’s Medicare portal in June.
OpenAI failed to alert Canberra until September 10, when it sent an email to a generic public mailbox.
"Today I spoke with the CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, to express Australia's extreme concern about this incident," Albanese said.
"And I also expressed my disappointment that it took the company way too long to inform the government what had occurred."
Bypassing security barriers
Albanese disclosed that the OpenAI programme was carrying out health research when it attempted to access restricted government data.
"When it was blocked, it sought ways around the blockage," Albanese said.
"I think OpenAI know that they need to have better protocols in place. This is a research project that has got into areas that it shouldn't have."
Albanese noted that there is no evidence of wider network compromises or personal data theft, though "investigations are ongoing."
OpenAI acknowledged that an internal evaluation led its systems to exceed intended parameters.
"In the course of that, our models took actions we did not intend," the San Francisco company stated.
The revelation coincides with mounting global unease over advanced AI autonomy following similar breaches.
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Source: TRT
