Australia says OpenAI agent hacked Medicare portal

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has revealed a security breach of a government website containing Australians’ health data by an “AI agent”, less than a day after signing a joint appeal for “urgent global guardrails” around Artificial Intelligence.Albanese co-signed the “A Call for Control of Frontier AI Models” statement on Tuesday together with 21 signatories including Canada, Spain and Germany, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting in New York.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Trump says he will create ‘AI Force’ with new ‘AI czar’list 2 of 3Australia seeks big tech support for internet safety, AI regulationlist 3 of 3As AI leaders warn of catastrophe, US and China shun slowdown callsend of listAddressing reporters on Wednesday, Albanese said the agent, developed by OpenAI, accessed public and non-public data on the government’s Medicare portal in June.Australia’s Labor government is tightening tech regulations with new online safety laws, age bans and proposed digital duty of care frameworks.Albanese said he had spoken to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to express Canberra’s “extreme concern” about the hack and disappointment that the company took three months to admit the breach.OpenAI responded in the hours after the news conference, stating that while it was still investigating, there was no evidence patient records were accessed.The company’s review had identified activity involving several Australian government websites and services as its “models attempted to look up answers”, it said.OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addresses the United Nations Security Council during a session on Artificial Intelligence during the 81st United Nations General Assembly, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, September 23, 2026 [Brendan McDermid/Reuters]World leaders respond to AI warningsThe leaders of Artificial Intelligence companies warned of the risks of unregulated AI development before a 15-member UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday.