Australia says OpenAI agent hacked Medicare portal

Published On 24 Sep 202624 Sep 2026Australia’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” abou...