OpenAI, Anthropic CEOs called to appear at Senate inquiry

The CEOs of OpenAI and Anthropic have been called to appear at an Australian Senate inquiry on AI, days after the revelation that a rogue OpenAI bot had hacked the Medicare database.

The Medicare breach happened when rogue OpenAI agents hacked into Australian and US government websites, and is one of the highest-profile incidents of AI agents accessing external systems.

OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei have been sent written requests to appear at the Greens-led inquiry, which begins public hearings in Canberra on Thursday.

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young of the Greens party will chair the probe.

The Senate inquiry will also examine the potential impacts of AI and data centers on Australian communities, industries, water and energy. 

“There are serious questions for Sam Altman to answer about the OpenAI hack of Australian government websites,” Hanson-Young said in a statement. 

She added that Altman and Amodei “must front up, face the Senate’s questions and have an honest conversation about what effective, lasting regulation of this industry should look like.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who revealed the June breach of Medicare last week, called it “unacceptable”, sharing that he had voiced “extreme concern” to Altman in a phone call before the breach was announced.

Albanese said OpenAI’s confirmation that its agents had also interfered with US government websites was evidence there were multiple cases of AI acting without authorization.

“What this does is confirm … [is] that there needs to be [an] appropriate national response, as well as an international response, to make sure that humans stay in charge,” the Prime Minister said at a press conference.

OpenAI claims it only learned of the breach in August. It says the incident was not intentional and did not compromise any private information.

Hanson-Young said Altman needed to be publicly accountable to the Australian public.

“This can’t all be done behind closed doors,” Hanson-Young said. “The public has a right to know what went on here.”