Albanese says Medicare breach disclosure was 'purely in national interest'

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday, after returning from a week-long trip to the United States, that his decision to publicly disclose an OpenAI artificial intelligence agent's unauthorised access to the Medicare Statistics Reporting portal was made purely in Australia's national interest. He said that at the time of the announcement he was unaware of similar incidents having occurred elsewhere.

Albanese landed back in Australia having addressed the United Nations General Assembly during his visit, where he spoke about the international need to rein in artificial intelligence. He noted that subsequent reports of autonomous AI agents allegedly accessing US university, commerce department and Securities and Exchange Commission systems reinforced the case for both national and international responses to ensure humans remain in control of the emerging technology. He said it was up to OpenAI to explain why multiple breaches had occurred.

Defence minister's remarks

Defence Minister Richard Marles said in a television interview that last week's revelation of an OpenAI agent accessing Australian government websites was very serious, even though the information obtained was relatively minor and already public, containing no personal data. Marles said he had met OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman earlier this month, but the company did not disclose at that meeting that it knew its agent had breached Australian government systems. He said the seriousness lay not in the information obtained but in the fact that an AI agent had taken an unintended, unauthorised action against a government website — the first such incident involving Australia.

Marles also commented on the ongoing war in Iran launched by Donald Trump, saying it was clear the White House wants the conflict to end, as disruption to the global fuel supply chain is affecting the world economy, a factor the Australian government is factoring into its own budget management.

Separately, flight delays and cancellations linked to poor weather in Melbourne caused difficulties for interstate fans travelling to Saturday's AFL grand final between the Fremantle Dockers and the Brisbane Lions.