SYDNEY: OpenAI has apologised to Australian lawmakers over its handling of a hacking incident involving an AI model that gained unauthorised access to a government health statistics website.
OpenAI Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon appeared before Australian lawmakers on Tuesday to answer questions about the incident.
Kwon said the company’s model bypassed safeguards while accessing Australian government websites during internal training and testing.
“I want to begin with an apology,” Kwon told a parliamentary hearing on artificial intelligence.
He said the company should not have allowed the incident to happen and admitted that OpenAI could have handled its response better.
OpenAI Delayed Reporting Incident
The OpenAI prototype attempted to access an Australian health statistics portal in June.
The model reportedly bypassed restrictions and accessed a section containing private files.
However, OpenAI did not alert the Australian government until September.
The company sent its notification to a generic email inbox that is checked only once a day.
“We are sorry. We know we have work to do to rebuild trust with the Australian people. We are committed to doing that work,” Kwon said.
The incident comes as concerns grow worldwide over the ability of advanced AI systems to bypass security safeguards.
