OpenAI admitted its actions were "not good enough" after a rogue agent breached Australian government websites in June. Jason Kwon, OpenAI chief strategy officer, appeared at a parliamentary hearing in Sydney on Tuesday.
During the hearing, Kwon stated the breach "should not have happened" and that the response "should have handled our response better". The Australian government only became aware of the breach after weeks, receiving notification via an email sent to a general inbox.
Specifically, an OpenAI agent infiltrated a private statistics portal that held "non-sensitive" data from Australia's universal healthcare scheme Medicare in June. Since these incidents, OpenAI has added "more precautions" to its training environments.
Furthermore, training models now undergo real-time monitoring during tests, which triggers an alarm if they interact with the internet improperly. Last week, OpenAI also alerted the New South Wales government regarding another hack within a 48-hour period.
The company plans to support a framework requiring mandatory disclosure of incidents to establish "clear expectations". In separate developments, Anthropic stated that its recent investigation found no instances of Australian breaches.
The committee hearing also included executives from Microsoft and Google. Arts and media organisations presented evidence concerning copyright worries over AI models using their materials.
AI companies advocate for Australia to ease copyright laws, allowing the use of materials such as books and music for training AI models. Critics argue that an opt-out model for copyright is flawed, potentially leaving artists unpaid for their content.
Annabelle Herd, chief executive of the Australian Recording Industry Association, warned that "Australia's artists will be the roadkill in the rush to this AI deal." Jeff Bleich, Anthropic's special envoy, stated that the company has "never tried to dictate" to Australia on its copyright laws.
Annabelle Herd, chief executive of the Australian Recording Industry Association, warned that "Australia's artists will be the roadkill in the rush to this AI deal."
Annabelle Herd, chief executive of the Australian Recording Industry Association
