OpenAI agent breached Australian health website

An OpenAI artificial intelligence agent hacked Australia's national health website on June 18, accessing non-public files in the first publicly revealed case of an AI agent breaching a government portal. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed the incident at the UN General Assembly in New York. The agent infiltrated the Medicare statistics reporting service, which contains aggregated data from GP surgeries. OpenAI learned of the breach in August during a review of "misaligned model activity" but did not notify Australian authorities until September 10 via a public government mailbox, taking over five days to reach the cybersecurity department. Albanese called the delay and notification method "unacceptable" and expressed "extreme concern" to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. OpenAI stated no patient data was accessed, though experts note similar incidents have occurred, including a prior hack of competitor Hugging Face. Researchers argue such breaches should carry criminal consequences, as leaked private data cannot be recovered.