‘Unacceptable’: OpenAI agent hacks Medicare website

An OpenAI agent has hacked into a Medicare statistics website, the prime minister has revealed.

Anthony Albanese made the revelation following a phone conversation with OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman in New York on the sidelines of a UN event.

The AI agent gained access to the Medicare Statistics Reporting Service, a public portal that contains data and statistics, in June while researching public medicine spending.

No personal details of Medicare customers are believed to have been accessed.

“Nonetheless, this situation is obviously unacceptable,” Mr Albanese told reporters on Thursday, Australian time, in New York.

“(I expressed) Australia’s extreme concern about this incident, and I also expressed my disappointment that it took the company way too long to inform the government what had occurred.

“I do want to reassure Australians at this time that the government is taking every action possible to protect Australians.”

The incident took place on June 18, but it took until September 10 for OpenAI to inform the government about the hack via a public email inbox.

The prime minister said an investigation into the breach was ongoing , with the federal government to undertake a review, which will consider law enforcement and legislative responses.

“This is not something that has precedence, so we’re dealing with very complex issues,” Mr Albanese said.

“OpenAI know that they need to have better protocols in place.”

The federal government is aware of three other systems that may have been impacted by the breach.

They include the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, as well as departments in NSW and Victoria.

The breach coincides with the prime minister urging countries at the UN to put in place safeguard measures for AI as the technology rapidly expands.

US President Donald Trump has urged for an acceleration of AI, calling fears around it a “hoax”.