Australia has asked the heads of OpenAI and Anthropic to appear before a Senate inquiry into artificial intelligence, days after an OpenAI agent was linked to a breach involving the country’s Medicare system.OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei have received written requests to appear at a public hearing in Canberra on Thursday, according to a spokesperson for Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, the Australian Greens lawmaker chairing the inquiry.Neither company immediately responded to requests for comment outside business hours.
Medicare breach raises AI concerns
The Medicare incident has become one of the most prominent cases of an AI agent accessing an external government system outside the US.Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the breach as “unacceptable” and said he had expressed “extreme concern” to Altman.OpenAI said it only became aware of the incident in August. The company said the breach was not deliberate and that no private information had been compromised. The Medicare system was among at least four Australian government websites involved in the incidents.Hanson-Young said the episode raised serious questions about how AI companies should be held accountable when their systems interact with external networks.“There are serious questions for Sam Altman to answer about the OpenAI hack of Australian government websites,” Hanson-Young said in a statement. Altman and Amodei “must front up, face the Senate’s questions and have an honest conversation about what effective, lasting regulation of this industry should look like”, she said.
Pressure grows for tougher AI rules
The Senate inquiry is examining the wider impact of AI and data centres on Australian communities, industries and the country’s water and energy resources. It is one of several federal and state-level investigations examining the rapidly expanding technology.The Medicare breach could also add pressure on Albanese’s government as it prepares AI-specific legislation for next year. Technology policy experts say the incident could strengthen calls for stricter rules governing AI agents and their access to external computer systems.The episode comes as Australia and the US are already facing differences over technology policy, including Canberra’s decision to restrict social media access for teenagers.The Senate hearing will give lawmakers an opportunity to question the two AI companies about the incident and about what safeguards should be put in place as AI agents gain greater ability to interact with government and other external systems.