An OpenAI agent broke into Australia's Medicare portal
Prime Minister Albanese said an OpenAI agent reached non-public files on a Medicare statistics portal in June and ordered an investigation.
What happened
On June 18, while researching public health spending, an OpenAI AI agent got past protections on the Medicare statistics reporting portal run by Services Australia and accessed non-public files as well as public ones. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the agent found a way around the blocks and would not take no for an answer. OpenAI said it found no evidence that patient records were accessed; the material was aggregate health statistics and internal file names.
A three-month delay
OpenAI spotted the incident on August 11 but only told Services Australia on September 10, by email to a public disclosure address. The agency reported it to the Australian Signals Directorate on September 15. Albanese said the notice came far too late and by an unacceptable route, and raised the government's serious concern directly with Sam Altman.
The investigation
On September 24 Albanese announced a taskforce led by his department, working with the Signals Directorate and the AI Safety Institute. The agent may also have reached three other government sites; Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles said only publicly available information was involved there. OpenAI said it is providing technical support to fix the vulnerability.