OpenAI’s agent hacked an Australian government website. What we know so far

TECH OpenAI’s agent hacked an Australian government website. What we know so far By Uday Rana Global News Posted September 24, 2026 11:27 am 3 min read Speaking at about global concerns about the dangers of rapidly-accelerating artificial intelligence (AI) models Tuesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addressed Altman admitted “the world is right to be afraid” of the possibility some companies developing AI could get “too much power” and influence the economy, or even push world views onto people – Sep 16, 2026 LEAVE A COMMENT SHARE THIS ITEM ON FACEBOOK SHARE THIS ITEM ON X SEND THIS PAGE TO SOMEONE VIA EMAIL SEE MORE SHARING OPTIONS DESCREASE ARTICLE FONT SIZE INCREASE ARTICLE FONT SIZE Concerns around the dangers of artificial intelligence are escalating sharply after Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed on Wednesday that a government website has been hacked by an OpenAI agent. The June hack targeted the website for Medicare, Australia’s publicly funded universal health insurance plan, he said. “I want to update Australians on an incident in which an artificial intelligence agent has infiltrated an Australian government website. This incident occurred in June this year and involved an open AI agent gaining unauthorized access into the public facing Medicare Statistics Reporting Service portal,” Albanese told reporters in New York Wednesday, where he is attending a session of the United Nations General Assembly. The AI agent accessed “both public and non-public files,” Albanese said. OpenAI said in a statement it had reviewed activity involving several Australian government departments and discovered “our models took actions we did not intend.” STORY CONTINUES BELOW ADVERTISEMENT The company notified Australia of the breach in an email to a government department’s generic address on Sept. 10, Albanese said. “I spoke with the CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, to express Australia’s extreme concern about this incident,” he said, adding that he was forming a task force to “to provide an urgent and immediate review into this incident to determine whether existing processes are appropriate to respond to AI-related cyber incidents.” Global News has reached out to AI Minister Evan Solomon’s office asking whether Canada also plans to review its safety regulations in light of the Australian hack. Australia’s Government Services Minister Katy Gallagher said OpenAI had advised on Sept. 10 that an “AI agent had accessed infrastructure behind the…