In brief
- OpenAI has apologised after its models accessed Australian government websites without authorisation.
- Despite the breach occurring in June, OpenAI did not alert the government until September.
OpenAI apologised on Tuesday for not properly responding to a security incident involving its artificial intelligence (AI) models accessing Australian government websites without authorisation.
"We are sorry and working to do better in the future," OpenAI said in a blog post, going on to say that the company would explain "what we know, what we have changed, and what we will do to rebuild trust with the Australian people".
OpenAI models accessed Australian government websites and systems like Medicare without authorisation during internal training and evaluation exercises in June.
The company said the activity involved websites and systems linked to Services Australia, the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, the Victorian Department of Health and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
The incident occurred while the model was being trained, where, according to deputy prime minister Richard Marles, the agent "scaled the fence" and accessed part of a Medicare portal.
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OpenAI did not alert the Australian government until September, when it said it first discovered the breach. It sent an email to the public Services Australia inbox on 10 September advising of the breach.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the breach while at the United Nations General Assembly last week.
In its blog post, OpenAI confirmed its chief strategy officer, Jason Kwon, will travel from the US to appear at the Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence in Sydney on Tuesday 6 October.
The apology follows OpenAI's announcement that it will not release its newest artificial intelligence model, known as Astra 6.1. Internal testing by the ChatGPT-maker revealed it did not meet safety standards, the company confirmed on Tuesday.
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