Australia says OpenAI agent hacked Medicare portal

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese participates in a session on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 22, 2026 [Ludovic Marin/AFP]

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has revealed a security breach of a government website containing Australians’ health data by an “AI agent”, less than a day after signing a joint appeal for “urgent global guardrails” around artificial intelligence.

Albanese co-signed the “ A Call for Control of Frontier AI Models ” statement on Tuesday together with 21 signatories including Canada, Spain and Germany, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting in New York.

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Addressing reporters on Wednesday, Albanese said the agent, developed by OpenAI, accessed public and non-public data on the government’s Medicare portal in June.

Australia’s Labor government is tightening tech regulations with new online safety laws, age bans and proposed digital duty of care frameworks.

Albanese said he had spoken to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to express Canberra’s “extreme concern” about the hack and disappointment that the company took three months to admit the breach.

OpenAI responded in the hours after the news conference, stating that while it was still investigating, there was no evidence patient records were accessed.

The company’s review had identified activity involving several Australian government websites and services as its “models attempted to look up answers”, it said.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addresses the United Nations Security Council during a session on artificial intelligence during the 81st United Nations General Assembly, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, September 23, 2026 [Brendan McDermid/Reuters]

World leaders respond to AI warnings

The leaders of artificial intelligence companies warned of the risks of unregulated AI development before a 15-member UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday.

One of them, Yoshua Bengio, a Canadian considered one of the ‘Godfathers of AI’ and co-chair of the Independent International Scientific Panel, spoke of the “unprecedented threat” and the “real and imminent” dangers of the technology.

China’s UN ambassador Fu Cong told the meeting that Beijing believed continuous improvement of regulatory frameworks, emergency response and cross-border cooperation on AI was needed.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the United Kingdom was ready to lead an international effort to establish AI standards.

“We’ve all heard the warnings which we must heed… so we have to rise to this moment,” he said, but added he also wanted the UK to pursue the benefits of AI.

French President Emmanuel Macron warned against allowing the United States and China to dominate decision-making around AI during his speech to the assembly on Wednesday.

US President Donald Trump is at odds with many of his counterparts, comparing the dangers of AI to climate change , which he has called a hoax.

He also proposed rebranding the term AI to SI, or “super intelligence”, during his address to the UNGA on Tuesday, and earlier said he planned to appoint an AI adviser.

In a Truth Social post on Monday, Trump said the US was leading the AI race over China , that he was “not going to stifle Growth”, but added ⁠that the US would be careful.

White House science and technology adviser Michael Kratsios echoed Trump in remarks to the UN Security Council on Wednesday.

“You cannot govern technology you do not understand. This body and others like it should focus on sharing best practices to build domestic capacity, not establishing a global regulatory scheme,” he said.

2026年9月22日，澳大利亚总理安东尼·阿尔巴尼斯在纽约参加第81届联合国大会期间的一场会议。[Ludovic Marin/AFP]

澳大利亚总理安东尼·阿尔巴尼斯透露，一个包含澳大利亚人健康数据的政府网站遭到“人工智能代理”的攻击，造成安全漏洞。而就在不到一天前，他刚刚签署了一份联合呼吁，要求在全球范围内为人工智能设立“紧急护栏”。

周二，阿尔巴尼斯与包括加拿大、西班牙和德国在内的 21 个签署国在纽约联合国大会期间共同签署了《呼吁控制前沿人工智能模型》声明。

列表 1/3：特朗普称将组建“人工智能部队”，并任命新的“人工智能沙皇”

澳大利亚寻求大型科技公司支持，以加强网络安全和人工智能监管（共3条，此为第2条）

（共3条，第3条）人工智能领袖警告灾难之际，美国和中国却拒绝放缓发展步伐。

阿尔巴尼斯周三在对记者发表讲话时表示，OpenAI 开发的这款代理程序在 6 月份访问了政府 Medicare 门户网站上的公共和非公共数据。

澳大利亚工党政府正在通过新的网络安全法、年龄限制和拟议的数字安全责任框架来收紧科技监管。

阿尔巴尼斯表示，他已与 OpenAI 首席执行官萨姆·奥特曼交谈，表达堪培拉对此次黑客攻击的“极度关切”，以及对该公司花了三个月时间才承认此次安全漏洞的失望之情。

在新闻发布会后的几个小时内，OpenAI 做出回应，称虽然仍在调查中，但没有证据表明患者记录被访问。

该公司表示，审查发现其模型在“试图查找答案”时，涉及了多个澳大利亚政府网站和服务。

OpenAI 首席执行官 Sam Altman 于 2026 年 9 月 23 日在美国纽约联合国总部举行的第 81 届联合国大会期间，在联合国安理会人工智能会议上发表讲话。[Brendan McDermid/路透社]

世界各国领导人回应人工智能警告

人工智能公司领导人在周三联合国安理会15个成员国召开的会议前警告称，不受监管的人工智能发展存在风险。

其中一位是加拿大人约书亚·本吉奥，他被认为是“人工智能教父”之一，也是独立国际科学小组的联合主席。他谈到了这项技术带来的“前所未有的威胁”和“真实且迫在眉睫的”危险。

中国常驻联合国代表傅聪在会上表示，北京认为需要不断完善人工智能领域的监管框架、应急响应和跨境合作。

英国首相安迪·伯纳姆表示，英国已准备好领导国际社会制定人工智能标准。

“我们都听到了必须重视的警告……所以我们必须抓住这个机会，”他说，但他补充说，他也希望英国能够追求人工智能带来的好处。

法国总统马克龙周三在大会上发表讲话时警告说，不要让美国和中国主导人工智能领域的决策。

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普与许多同行意见相左，他将人工智能的危险与气候变化相提并论，并称气候变化是一场骗局。

周二，他在联合国大会上发表讲话时，还提议将人工智能 (AI) 更名为超级智能 (SI)，此前他还表示计划任命一位人工智能顾问。

周一，特朗​​普在 Truth Social 上发帖称，美国在人工智能竞赛中领先于中国，他“不会扼杀增长”，但补充说，美国会谨慎行事。

白宫科技顾问迈克尔·克拉齐奥斯周三在联合国安理会发表讲话时，与特朗普的观点遥相呼应。

他说：“你无法管理你不了解的技术。这个机构以及其他类似的机构应该专注于分享最佳实践来提升国内能力，而不是建立全球监管体系。”