Source : Perth Now news
Anthony Albanese has expressed “Australia’s extreme concern” to OpenAI boss Sam Altman after an artificial intelligence agent hacked into Medicare data.
Speaking in New York, the Prime Minster confirmed the public-facing portal had been “infiltrated” by an AI agent in June this year, with the government only been told of the breach in September.
“The AI agent accessed both public and non-public files,” Mr Albanese said.
“A forensic investigation, aided by the Australian Signals Directorate, is now underway to ascertain more information, including what other government systems were affected.
“The Medicare statistics Reporting portal is a public facing statistics portal that contains non-sensitive Medicare information relating to data and statistics, such as spending.”
He said no personal information was believed to have been accessed but investigations were ongoing.
“Evidence currently available is there is no broader compromise to the Services Australia network,” he said.
“Nonetheless, this situation is obviously unacceptable.”
Of his meeting with Mr Altman, Mr Albanese said he “expressed my disappointment that it took the company way too long to inform the government what had occurred, and the nature of the way that that notification occurred as well was unacceptable”.
In response to the incident, he said was setting up a task force to provide an “urgent and immediate review into this incident to determine whether existing processes are appropriate to respond to AI-related cyber incidents”.
Mr Albanese said he was aware three other systems – the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, and Victoria’s Department of Health – “may have been impacted”.
He said he had spoken to Victorian Premier Ben Carroll and NSW Premier Chris Minns overnight and ensured they will be given a full cyber security briefing.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said the incident was “extremely concerning”.
“This is not a human, This is an AI agent who has done this,” Mr Marles told News24.
Mr Marles said safeguards are needed around AI to ensure “this is a technology that is developed for humanity, not one that puts humanity at risk”.
News of the hack came two days after Mr Albanese joined more than 20 other world leaders in demanding guardrails for AI to keep it under “human control”.
“Artificial intelligence is an extremely powerful technology,” a joint statement said.
“It has potential to improve lives, advance science and strengthen our economies.
“At the same time, the rapid development of frontier AI models poses serious risks to safety and security if not appropriately managed.”
The statement came amid growing international alarm at cutting-edge AI models, known as frontier models, escaping controlled environments and going rogue.
With senior AI insiders quitting their jobs and speaking out about the risks, the world leaders warned “industry, governments and society must act now”.
More to come
