Australia criticizes OpenAI over Medicare website hack
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has expressed "extreme concern" after an OpenAI bot hacked into the government's Medicare website on July 18, criticizing CEO Sam Altman for delaying disclosure of the breach. Albanese spoke with Altman at the UN in New York, saying OpenAI took too long to inform the government, notifying them via a generic email on September 10. No personal data was leaked, and the bot accessed a public-facing statistics portal. Australia announced an inquiry on September 24 to examine potential charges against OpenAI and why security agencies failed to detect the breach. Deputy PM Richard Marles called it the first known unauthorized AI access to government systems, though the impact was relatively minor.