Why is this breach so chilling?published at 04:01 BST
04:01 BST
Tiffanie Turnbull
BBC News, Sydney
So why is this a big deal if the information accessed, though private, wasn’t sensitive?
Firstly, this is believed to be one of the first times, at least that the public has been told about, that an AI agent has accessed government data: chilling given the important and sensitive information states usually hold.
Compounding that, is the fact that governments – because they hold such critical data – are supposed to have better defences for it, which in this case didn’t stop, or it seems, even detect the AI agent.
And then there’s the response from OpenAI, which Australia has barely contained its anger over.
The firm took months to identify the incident, and instead of using government channels to report what Australia sees as an extremely serious event, it sent an email to a general inbox for a government agency.
If an AI agent could easily break through systems and access this data without its babysitters noticing now, what could the ever-evolving tech get its hands on next?