Artificial Intelligence Hacked Australian Government Portal
OpenAI's artificial intelligence hacked the Australian government's Medicare portal, which publishes statistics on the healthcare insurance system.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the incident "unacceptable" and expressed his "extreme concern" to OpenAI head Sam Altman, Bild writes.
Albanese was particularly displeased that OpenAI had failed to inform the Australian government for too long. The hack occurred in June, but authorities only learned about it now, in September. The AI agent gained access to public and non-public files of the insurance system. However, in all likelihood, personal information was not affected, and individuals were not harmed, Albanese stated.
According to OpenAI's design, the artificial intelligence program was supposed to search for health-related statistics. On several Australian government websites, it operated just as a regular user would, said Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles. However, on the Medicare portal, the AI did not find the necessary information in open access, after which it decided to pursue a different path.
"The AI agent found a way to bypass the blockage — it, so to speak, didn't want to take 'no' for an answer," Albanese stated.
How much data the AI attacker thus obtained is still being clarified.
It is also unknown whether the AI attacked other Australian government websites.
OpenAI reported that during an internal review, it discovered activity on several Australian government websites: the AI was attempting to find government statistics.
"However, our models performed actions that we did not intend to allow," a company representative stated.