Australia launches urgent review after OpenAI program hacks government health portal

Nick Clegg speaking to BBC's Today programme about AI - watch livepublished at 08:17 BST The former deputy PM of the UK, who later worked at Facebook owner Meta, is speaking now. We'll bring you key lines from what he says.Watch him live at the top of the page. OpenAI access 'does raise questions about whether the law has been broken' - deputy PMpublished at 08:02 BST Image source, ReutersThe Australian government says the task force it is establishing to review what happened will explore "what the consequences are if there has been a breach of law"."It is utterly unacceptable," deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles tells reporters in Sydney.He says it is clear there has been "unintended" access by the OpenAI model, which "definitely does raise questions about whether the law has been broken in respect of this".He says that the task force will look into whether the law has been broken.It will also examine "whether or not the legal regime we have in place is fit for purpose in a world where we have an emerging AI capability," he adds. A recap of the OpenAI agent hack of an Australia government portalpublished at 07:45 BST Image source, Getty ImagesIf you're just joining us, here's what we have been reporting since Australia announced that an OpenAI agent had hacked into a government website: Australia's PM Anthony Albanese said on Thursday that the AI agent "infiltrated" a statistics portal containing private data from Australia's universal healthcare scheme. He alluded to "three other systems that may be impacted" but did not elaborate The breach happened in June but Open AI only became aware of it in August. It notified the government via an email, external to a general inbox on 10 September OpenAI says it found no record of patient data being accessed, but Albanese says he told OpenAI CEO Sam Altman the company took "way too long" to inform Canberra of the breach In response to the hack, Australia has launched a rapid review to examine whether existing legislation is sufficient in dealing with AI This is believed to be one of the world's first known AI-led hacks of a government website. It comes as world leaders and AI firms themselves call for regulation amid fears the industry's development is speeding out of control Hack sounds alarm bells for leaders everywherepublished at 07:31 BSTLily JamaliNorth America Technology Correspondent Prime Minister Albanese is calling this breach unacceptable, saying OpenAI took way too long to alert authorities.OpenAI for its part says they came across this incident as part of an ongoing review. I think they are trying to project that they are doing their due diligence, but it really just adds fuel to the fire as we are having this debate about AI safety, concerns about AI agents and chatbots going rogue.It is a very sensitive time to be learning about this and while it is obviously not the first time - as far as we know it is the first AI-agent-led hack of a government system reported anywhere in the world.Cyber-security professionals are saying this should raise alarm bells for leaders everywhere. AI dominates UN agendapublished at 07:10 BST Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, OpenAI's Sam Altman spoke at the UN this weekAI has been one of the dominant issues at this week's UN General Assembly in New York, after a series of alarming warnings from tech industry insiders."If we don't slow down at the current rate of progress, there is a strong chance that we could all die in the immediate future," AI researcher Jacob Coxon, who left Anthropic, told the BBC earlier this month.His former boss, Dario Amodei, and the leaders of two rival AI firms - Sam Altman of OpenAI and Elon Musk - have all said they agree the speed at which AI is developing needs to be reined in.And 20 nations, including Australia and Canada, this week signed a joint statement calling for better safeguards, globally consistent standards, and an international regulator off the back of these concerns.But the US and China, who are vying for AI supremacy, are roadblocks. Both are hostile to greater regulation, wanting the economic and technological spoils of AI, and have downplayed safety concerns. Australia launches urgent review of AI laws and governancepublished at 06:52 BST The Australian government has launched a rapid review into how it deals with AI in response to the Medicare hack.The review will examine whether existing legislation and governance are "fit for purpose to prepare for and respond to cyber incidents involving AI", according to a government statement.Led by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the review will also look into information-sharing arrangements with AI firms and other Commonwealth countries.Its findings will "inform the Australian government's broader work on AI governance", the statement said. OpenAI revealed six incidents last weekpublished at 06:36 BSTPeter HoskinsBusiness reporter Image source, Getty ImagesJust last week, OpenAI published a set of reports detailing six incidents of unexpected or concerning behaviour by its AI models.It also announced a plan for tracking and disclosing such incidents in the future.The blog post detailed incidents it says were discovered between April and August.But it doesn't seem to mention this incident, which OpenAI said today came to its attention in August.The BBC has contacted the company for comment. US rejects pleas from OpenAI, Anthropic for global AI standardspublished at 06:19 BST The US has rejected the idea of international standards for the AI industry, following calls by major players for a set of common risk evaluation guidelines.While acknowledging the risks presented by the technology, a key technology advisor to US President Donald Trump has said they are not reason enough "to pause development or constrain it with new global governance structures"."International dialogue in this forum and others cannot be allowed to drift toward global governance," the advisor, Michael Kratsios, told the UN security council.Trump himself told the UN on Tuesday that he "rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme to control" AI.“We’re leading now [in AI innovation] over China by a lot and everyone else, and we’re going to keep it that way," said the US president, who also said he wanted to rebrand it "super intelligence". 'We want big tech to take accountability' - ministerpublished at 05:56 BST Image source, Getty ImagesSpeaking to reporters in Brisbane, communications minister Anika Wells says the recent OpenAI agent hack is an example where "big tech clearly feels like they can do whatever they like"."We want big tech to take accountability. We want an unregulated industry to implement some basic safety standards here on Australian shores, and that’s what I’ll be trying to do when I introduce the digital duty of care in October."Wells helmed a world-leading social media ban for under-16s last year - a move closely watched by governments around the world as authorities struggle to curb the negative impacts of social media.The digital duty of care laws she is now trying to push through would make it mandatory for tech firms like Meta, Google and TikTok to offer users the option to turn off algorithms.But the proposed laws were criticised by the US as amounting to "censorship". Trump resisting calls from US firms for greater regulationpublished at 05:28 BST It's somewhat rare for a lucrative industry to call for greater regulation - but that is what tech firms in the US, like OpenAI and Anthropic, have been asking the globe to do.But US President Donald Trump has criticised calls for better safeguards and called concerns about the fate of humanity a hoax.In a series of social media posts earlier this month, the US president compared warnings about AI to the "Global Warming Scam", called himself "the Hoax Buster", and said the only "guardrails" needed for AI were a "strong and smart" president.In another post he wrote: "There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China. WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!"Image source, Getty Images Sam Altman urges governments to help make AI 'democratic'published at 05:24 BST Image source, Anadolu via Getty ImagesNews of the OpenAI agent hack into the Medicare portal comes as its CEO, Sam Altman, addressed the UN security council in New York this week.He called for international standards for the AI industry, and for governments to play a role in making AI "democratic".“We have a choice in front of us,” Altman told the council. “AI can either be more like a new renaissance of creativity and discovery, or more like a new industrial revolution of upheaval and disarray.”Dario Amodei of Anthropic also addressed the council via a video call, urging international cooperation on AI, without which he warned AI could turn into a "risk to humanity". What is an AI agent?published at 05:08 BSTOsmond ChiaBusiness reporter Image source, Getty ImagesIt is an autonomous computer program that uses AI to complete a task with minimal human oversight.That's unlike a standard chatbot that answers a question in a single step. Instead, an agent operates in a cycle by understanding the task and taking action, such as by running a code or working with an app to achieve a goal.Companies like Anthropic, OpenAI and Meta have all released agentic models. Developers have been programming agents to do all sorts of tasks, like to order items online or schedule appointments.But in some cases, it is unclear how an agent might achieve its goal, raising cyber security risks. Australia handed the perfect platform to talk up dangers of big techpublished at 05:00 BSTKaty WatsonAustralia correspondent