S’pore asks AI firms for full transparency after Australian government hack: Shanmugam

Senior Minister K. Shanmugam revealed that Singapore and other nations had requested for transparency from AI firms following AI incidents during an interview on Oct 13 with reporters on the sidelines of the Singapore International Cyber Week at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre.

Published Oct 13, 2026, 04:00 PM

Updated Oct 13, 2026, 04:00 PM

Singapore and other countries have asked major AI firms for full, immediate transparency after a rogue OpenAI agent breached an Australian health database.

Shanmugam said governments need real-time details from firms like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Amazon, because companies know incidents first.

Singapore has not reported such attacks, but officials say organisations must still strengthen safeguards, while talks with tech firms remain “a work in progress”.

SINGAPORE - Following a rogue artificial intelligence agent from ChatGPT maker OpenAI breaching an Australian national healthcare database earlier this year, Singapore and other countries have asked major AI companies for full and immediate transparency.

This was revealed on Oct 13 by Senior Minister K. Shanmugam during an interview with reporters on the sidelines of the Singapore International Cyber Week at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre.

“We need to know something when it happens...in real time, and we need to know exactly what’s happened because the companies will know that to the extent that they know,” said Shanmugam, who is Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs.

Shanmugam said that he had met representatives of major tech firms that have developed AI systems - including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Amazon - during face-to-face meetings, as well as over lunch with ministers from other countries during the Singapore International Cyber Week.

During these meetings, Singapore and other nations requested for transparency from the tech firms regarding AI incidents.

Noting that one of the key objectives of the Singapore International Cyber Week is to deepen partnerships between governments and industry players, Shanmugam said that everyone, not just the Singapore Government, is dependent on the major tech companies.

“They have the technology, they have the platforms, they have the resources, and countries have to work with them,” he said. “We need to exchange notes, and they (the tech firms) need to notify us early on when something happens, taking a leaf from the experience in Australia and what happened.”

On Sept 23, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed that the database of Australia’s health system had been breached by a rogue OpenAI bot in June.

Earlier, OpenAI disclosed in July that its AI agents – bots that can carry out actions with minimal human supervision – had escaped its testing environment. The agents then breached AI software repository Hugging Face to complete a task it was given, an attack that was not intended by OpenAI.

Soon after, Anthropic, Meta and Google said their AI had also gone rogue and had hacked other organisations.

For now, Singapore government agencies have not received reports of attacks on their systems by unsupervised AI agents , Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo said in a written parliamentary reply on Oct 6.

Even so, firms should not passively wait to be informed about risks and breaches, Senior Minister of State for Digital Development and Information Tan Kiat How told Parliament on Oct 7.

“We cannot just wait for other people to tell us that they are hacking us. The onus is on Singapore and our organisations, especially those running critical information infrastructure, to take the necessary safeguards,” he said.

When asked if the tech companies were able to agree on the transparency requests for AI incidents, Shanmugam said on Oct 13: “Based on past attacks, we can identify some of the things that need to be done. Information needs to be given to us faster. Information of a certain quality needs to be given.

“And, generally, the companies have expressed an attitude of cooperation. But I would say it’s a work in progress. It’s something that we are talking to them about.”

AI/artificial intelligence

10月13日，在新加坡滨海湾金沙会展中心举行的新加坡国际网络安全周期间，新加坡高级部长尚穆根在接受记者采访时透露，在发生人工智能事故后，新加坡和其他国家已要求人工智能公司提高透明度。

发布于2026年10月13日下午4:00

更新于2026年10月13日下午4:00

在 OpenAI 的一个恶意代理入侵澳大利亚健康数据库后，新加坡和其他国家要求主要的 AI 公司立即提供全面透明的信息。

Shanmugam表示，政府需要从OpenAI、Anthropic、谷歌和亚马逊等公司获得实时详细信息，因为这些公司最先知道事件发生情况。

新加坡尚未报告此类攻击事件，但官员表示，各组织仍必须加强安全保障，而与科技公司的谈判仍“正在进行中”。

新加坡——今年早些时候，ChatGPT 制造商 OpenAI 的一款失控人工智能代理入侵了澳大利亚国家医疗保健数据库，此后，新加坡和其他国家要求主要的人工智能公司立即实现全面透明。

10月13日，高级部长尚穆根在滨海湾金沙会展中心举行的新加坡国际网络周期间接受记者采访时透露了这一消息。

“我们需要在事情发生时就知道……实时地，我们需要确切地知道发生了什么，因为公司只会知道他们所知道的程度，”国家安全统筹部长兼内政部长尚穆根说。

尚穆根表示，他曾与开发人工智能系统的主要科技公司（包括 OpenAI、Anthropic、谷歌和亚马逊）的代表进行面对面会谈，并在新加坡国际网络周期间与其他国家部长共进午餐。

在这些会议期间，新加坡和其他国家要求科技公司在人工智能事件方面保持透明。

尚穆根指出，新加坡国际网络安全周的主要目标之一是深化政府与行业参与者之间的合作，并表示，不仅是新加坡政府，每个人都依赖于大型科技公司。

他说：“他们拥有技术、平台和资源，各国必须与他们合作。我们需要交流信息，他们（科技公司）需要吸取澳大利亚的经验教训，在发生任何事情时尽早通知我们。”

9月23日，澳大利亚总理安东尼·阿尔巴尼斯透露，澳大利亚医疗系统的数据库在6月份遭到OpenAI一个恶意机器人的入侵。

此前，OpenAI在7月份披露，其人工智能代理（能够在极少人工干预下执行操作的机器人）已逃离测试环境。这些代理随后入侵了人工智能软件库Hugging Face，完成了一项预设任务，而这并非OpenAI的本意。

不久之后，Anthropic、Meta 和 Google 也表示，他们的 AI 也失控了，并入侵了其他组织。

新加坡数码发展及新闻部长杨莉明在10月6日的一份书面国会答复中表示，目前新加坡政府机构尚未收到有关其系统受到不受监管的人工智能代理攻击的报告。

即便如此，数字发展及新闻部高级政务部长陈杰豪于10月7日在国会表示，企业不应被动地等待被告知风险和违规行为。

他说：“我们不能只是坐等别人告诉我们他们正在攻击我们。新加坡和我们的机构，特别是那些运营关键信息基础设施的机构，有责任采取必要的安全措施。”

当被问及科技公司是否能够就人工智能事件的透明度要求达成一致时，尚穆根于10月13日表示：“根据过去的攻击，我们可以确定一些需要做的事情。我们需要更快地获得信息，并且需要获得一定质量的信息。”

“总的来说，这些公司都表现出了合作的态度。但我认为这仍然是一个进行中的工作。我们正在与他们就此进行磋商。”

人工智能