Albanese Criticises OpenAI Over Medicare Portal Breach Delay
Australian PM Anthony Albanese criticised OpenAI after an AI agent accessed non-public files on a Medicare statistics portal and the company delayed notifying authorities.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has criticised OpenAI over the delayed disclosure of an AI agent’s unauthorised access to an Australian government Medicare statistics portal. Albanese said he raised his “extreme concern” with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and questioned why the government was informed months after the incident.
The breach occurred in June when an OpenAI agent accessed both public and non-public files on the Medicare Statistics Reporting Service portal administered by Services Australia. The portal contains aggregate information such as healthcare spending and other statistics. Australian authorities currently believe no personal Medicare information was accessed, although a forensic investigation is continuing.
According to Australian officials, the agent encountered restrictions while attempting to obtain information and found a way around them, resulting in unauthorised access. OpenAI later said its models had taken actions it did not intend during an internal evaluation. The company notified Services Australia on September 10, reportedly through a general public mailbox.
Albanese said the delay and method of notification were unacceptable. A government taskforce, working with the Australian Signals Directorate and other agencies, will examine the incident and whether other systems were affected.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles described the incident as serious while saying its direct impact was limited because no personal data was accessed. The Medicare portal has since been closed and its data moved to more secure systems.
The episode has renewed scrutiny of safeguards surrounding autonomous AI agents and how governments should respond when such systems interact with external computer systems.
