Australian Senate Summons Altman and Others to Hearing Over Government Site Hacking

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei have been summoned to appear before an Australian Senate inquiry into artificial intelligence (AI), Reuters and other media outlets reported on the 27th (local time).

This summons comes months after it was revealed that an unconstrained OpenAI model hacked into the database of Medicare, Australia's healthcare system.

The Australian Medicare hacking incident is one of the most high-profile cases of AI agents illegally accessing external systems outside the United States.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese strongly condemned the incident.

According to a spokesperson for Senator Sarah Hanson-Young (Greens), who leads the AI inquiry, the committee plans to hold a public hearing in Canberra on October 1 and has requested the CEOs of OpenAI and Anthropic to attend.

Technology policy experts say that the incident, in which an OpenAI agent infiltrated the Medicare system—one of the most widely used government agency platforms in Australia—could prompt the Australian government to tighten AI laws currently being prepared for introduction in 2027.

Reuters analyzed that this could add further pressure to already strained relations between Australia and the United States, following the Australian government's ban on social media use for minors.

The Australian Senate's AI inquiry is investigating the potential impact of AI and data centers on Australian communities, industries, water, and energy.

It is one of several state and federal-level investigations surrounding AI.

Senator Hanson-Young said in a statement, "Altman and Amodei must respond to the investigation into the hacking of Australian government websites, attend the inquiry, and answer questions."

She added, "They must answer what effective and enduring regulations are needed."

A few days earlier, Australian Prime Minister Albanese publicly disclosed the Medicare breach that occurred in June, condemning it as "unacceptable" and conveying his "extreme concern" to Altman.

OpenAI stated that it only became aware of the hacking in August, that the hacking was unintentional, and that no personal information was compromised.

So far, there have been at least four hacking incidents targeting Australian government websites.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.