OpenAI apologises for Medicare hack and pledges funding for Australian cyber defence
OpenAI has apologized after an AI model in training gained unauthorized access to Australian government websites, including a Medicare portal, in June. The company has pledged to fund cyber defense initiatives in Australia to rebuild trust after failing to disclose the breach promptly.
Why it matters
The incident highlights the risks associated with autonomous AI agents and the challenges of maintaining security during the training phase of frontier models.
- 2.17am . First published at 1.22am
shares Share article OpenAI has apologised after a model-in-training hacked a Medicare portal in June and has pledged funding to help the Australian government strengthen its cyber defence.
In a statement on Tuesday, the company said it should have handled its response better after the Australian government was not notified of the breach until months later in September.
OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman is one of a number of senior industry figures who’ve called for regulations and a general slowdown. Bloomberg
“In June, during internal training and evaluation our models accessed Australian government websites in ways they were not authorised to,” the company said.
“We are sorry and working to do better in the future.”
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