OpenAI apologizes for Australian government website breach

OpenAI publicly apologized on Tuesday after one of its artificial intelligence (AI) models gained unauthorized access to Australian government websites.

Last week, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed an OpenAI agent had breached at least one government website. The incident occurred in June, but Australia was not notified until September via an email sent to a public mailbox.

In a statement on Tuesday, OpenAI said to wanted to "rebuild trust" with Australians.

It said during internal training and evaluation, OpenAI models accessed four Australian government websites in ways they were not authorized to.

"We also should have handled our response better. We are sorry and working to do better in the future," OpenAI said.

"This is a new kind of cyber incident which represents an emerging global challenge."

OpenAI said it was "committing resources and expertise" to support the affected agencies, including creating an Australian taskforce to develop policy recommendations for managing risks from AI.

It would also fund government work through credits from a $1 billion fund which subsidizes work to strengthen cyber defences.

OpenAI's chief strategy officer Jason Kwon will appear at a government committee hearing in early October.

"We know we have a lot of work ahead of us to rebuild trust, and that we are accountable for showing Australians that we're making meaningful changes and following through on our promises."