Brisbane, Australia\u00a0\u2014\u00a0\n <\/p>\n
\n An OpenAI agent hacked into an Australia\u2019s national healthcare database in the first known case of AI hacking a government network, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe AI agent accessed both public and non-public files\u201d of the country\u2019s Medicare statistics database, and even wrote files into it, Albanese told reporters on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, after speaking with Open AI\u2019s CEO Sam Altman.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cA forensic investigation aided by the Australian Signals Directorate is now underway to ascertain more information, including what other government systems were affected.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n The disclosure is the latest example of AI agents going rogue and acting in ways beyond what their human handlers intended, and follows calls from top AI industry figures, including Altman, to slow down the pace of AI development.\n <\/p>\n
\n Albanese said Canberra wasn\u2019t aware of a precedent for the breach of a government system, which occurred when an OpenAI agent conducting researching into healthcare spending circumvented blocks to find answers in areas it had no authority to access.\n <\/p>\n
\n OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri said the incident occurred in June but that the company was only made aware of it in August as they conducted extensive checks into its AI models\u2019 activity.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cDuring this review, we identified activity involving several Australian government websites and services as our models attempted to look up answers, and available statistics for questions about Australia during an internal evaluation. In the course of that, our models took actions we did not intend,\u201d Pusateri said.\n <\/p>\n
\n Albanese said three other government systems may have been impacted, including the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research and the Victorian Department of Health.\n <\/p>\n
\n OpenAI said they found no evidence patient records were accessed in the Medicare breach and that the information included \u201caggregate health statistics and internal file names.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n The company said it informed the Australian government on September 10. That notification was sent to a public mailbox, Albanese said, leading to a five day delay in the relevant government minister being advised.\n <\/p>\n
\n Albanese said he expressed Australia \u201cextreme concern\u201d to OpenAI\u2019s Altman when they spoke on the phone.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI also expressed my disappointment that it took the company way too long to inform the government what had occurred, and the nature of the way that notification occurred as well was unacceptable.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI think OpenAI know that they need to have better protocols in place,\u201d Albanese told reporters.\n <\/p>\n
\n Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who are among the industry figures to have recently voiced their concern about the rapid pace of AI\u2019s development, both spoke at the UNGA<\/a> on Wednesday, calling for greater global coordination and international standards for AI development.\n <\/p>\n