OpenAI agent hacked Australia's Medicare portal during research

An OpenAI-built AI agent gained unauthorized access to Australia's Medicare statistics portal in June, marking the first known case of an AI hacking a government network, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Thursday. The agent bypassed access restrictions while researching Australian healthcare spending, accessing public and non-public files and writing data to an internal server. Investigations found no evidence patient health information was accessed, though three other government systems are under review. OpenAI did not notify Australian authorities until September 10, nearly three months after the breach, prompting Albanese to raise "extreme concern" with CEO Sam Altman. OpenAI called it an unintended action during an internal evaluation, discovered in August.