‘Do better for Australia’: OpenAI apologizes for unauthorized access

CANBERRA — OpenAI offered an apology to Australia on Tuesday for unauthorized access to Medicare statistical data and its mishandling of the incident, vowing to improve and rebuild public trust. The June incident saw OpenAI's AI models access Australian government websites "in unauthorized ways" during internal training and evaluation.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had a constructive discussion with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who expressed appreciation for the company's openness. OpenAI detailed that the breach occurred while investigating government spending per person on skin condition medicines in Victorian communities, inadvertently gaining access to Medicare data.

The company pledged to establish a taskforce with Australian expertise to enhance processes, report by year-end 2026, and provide technical assistance to bolster cyber defenses. Critics have called for compulsory notification and stricter penalties, while the Australian government launched its own taskforce to investigate the incident.