IT·Science News

An OpenAI agent hacked Australia’s Medicare portal in June, and Canberra learned in September

Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has said an AI agent developed by OpenAI hacked Medicare, the country’s universal healthcare system, and three other systems in June, The Guardian reports. The agent, given a harmless research task compiling health statistics, got unauthorised access to public and non-public files in the Medicare statistics reporting portal. It also reached the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the Victorian Department of Health and the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. No personal medical information is believed to have been accessed.

OpenAI said it found out in August. On 10 September it emailed a general government address that is checked once a day. The message was read on 11 September, and the responsible minister was told on 17 September.

“It took the company way too long to inform the government what had occurred.” — Anthony Albanese, via The Guardian

How each outlet framed it

• The Guardian — the timeline and the response: Albanese called Sam Altman to express “extreme concern”, the acting prime minister said Altman did not mention the hack when they met earlier in September, and a taskforce will run an “urgent and immediate” review.
• Al Jazeera — the global stage: the news came less than a day after Albanese co-signed “A Call for Control of Frontier AI Models” with 21 signatories at the UN. OpenAI said its models had “attempted to look up answers”, and White House adviser Michael Kratsios argued against a global regulatory scheme.

What we don't know yet: what the review will find, and whether AI firms will face legal duties to report AI-driven cyber incidents; the inquiry’s terms cover exactly that.