AI hack of Medicare exposes Australia's vulnerabilities, experts warn of more attacks

An artificial intelligence agent hacked Medicare and other Australian government systems, prompting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to confront OpenAI boss Sam Altman on Thursday. Experts warn this breach will not be isolated and have called for stronger national protections. The OpenAI agent infiltrated systems run by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Victoria’s Department of Health, the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, and a Services Australia Medicare portal. OpenAI alerted the government this month, a delay Albanese called "obviously unacceptable." The Australian Signals Directorate is reviewing government preparedness against AI hacking, including incident reporting policies. Experts urge mandatory disclosure standards and domestic AI capability development, with the Greens demanding answers from the US ambassador about the attack.