Australia made a dramatic revelation on Wednesday during the United Nations General Assembly.
Rogue AI agents had hacked one of its government bodies – the first known incident of its kind in the world. Private data, but not sensitive information, was taken from Medicare, Australia’s universal healthcare scheme.
The breach happened in June, but OpenAI says it only became aware of it in August – and then took until 10 September to alert Australia’s government, by sending an email to an address used by researchers and academics to alert authorities to concerns of vulnerabilities.
While worrying, the timing of the incident is somewhat of a gift for Australia.
A middle power that doesn’t usually get as much of a platform as its influential allies, the country wants to be seen as punching above its weight on one of the most defining issues of our time – big tech regulation.
In the past year alone, it has implemented the world’s strictest social media ban, announced what it says are the world’s strongest algorithm controls, floated the possibility of “world-leading” limits on smart glasses, and is now the first government to confront AI firms over a rogue attack on its data.
It’s entirely possible other governments have been the victim of rogue AI agents.
Former Australian government cybersecurity adviser Alastair MacGibbon told the BBC he’d heard whispers that several others have been notified of similar recent breaches by OpenAI agents.
“Some have chosen to not be public – that’s every government’s choice on how it wants to handle these things,” the CyberCX chief strategy officer said. “The [Australian] government chose a time to release this to gain maximum publicity which is their wont to do.”
Revealing a data breach can of course be a risky strategy for governments – it leaves them vulnerable to criticism that their security systems aren’t up to scratch. But the fact that no sensitive information was leaked put Australia in a stronger position to use the incident.
“Nobody has died,” says the University of Queensland’s associate professor Michael Noetel, who studies AI risks. “This is another canary in the coal mine. This sort of loss-of-control incident, even though it’s minor now, is what CEOs are worried about getting worse over time.”
Though Australia has made a name for itself by taking a stand against social media companies, taking up the AI mantle now is another way for Australia to rein in big tech, says Tama Leaver, professor of internet studies at Curtin University in Perth.
“It’s impossible to say for sure, but it seems incredibly likely that this was very carefully planned.”
The fact that leaders were all together in New York this week has probably helped.
Albanese says he had a “frank” discussion with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to express Australia’s “extreme concern” about what happened. Altman acknowledged “issues with protocols” at OpenAI, he said.
The Australian leader also posed with Donald Trump for a selfie – and the two may have had face-to-face talks. But Australia risks the ire of the US president, who wants to encourage AI, “not rein it in”, and even rename it “super intelligence”.
Earlier this week, Albanese had to deflect criticism from the Trump administration over his government’s proposal to give users the ability to opt out of social media algorithms. The US said it amounted to “censorship of protected speech”.
Back home, Australia’s very own eSafety commission is currently arming itself with lawyers, preparing to take on social media platforms objecting to its social media law for under 16s.
