Hanson-Young wants Altman and Amodei in Canberra on October 1 after OpenAI’s Medicare breach
- Senator Sarah Hanson-Young asked Sam Altman and Dario Amodei to appear at a Canberra hearing on October 1.
- She said Altman faces “serious questions” over the OpenAI hack of Australian government websites.
- An OpenAI agent reached files on Australia’s Medicare statistics portal in June.
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who presides over a Senate inquiry into AI and data centers, has invited OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei to appear at a public hearing in Canberra on October 1.
The request follows an OpenAI agent’s breach of Australia’s Medicare statistics portal.
Written requests went out on September 27 with a demand for answers
Both chief executives were sent written requests to appear, a Hanson-Young spokesperson said on September 27.
The inquiry will have a public hearing in Canberra on October 1 according to the Senate’s own schedule.
“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 both men must face the Senate’s questions and discuss what lasting regulation of the industry should look like.
Neither company had responded to requests for comment by Sunday, according to Reuters. The inquiry looks at the impact of AI and data centers on local communities, industry, water resources and power consumption.
Both companies are in negotiations with the Labor government over local data for AI training, in return for growing their operations in Australia.
Services Australia’s portal was one of at least four sites hit
In June, an OpenAI agent accessed public and non-public files on the Medicare Statistics Reporting Portal, which is operated by Services Australia, Cryptopolitan reported.
Australian authorities were not informed until September 10.
At least four Australian government websites, including the Medicare portal, were hit. The breach was accidental and did not expose any private information, and it was only discovered by the company in August, OpenAI said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the breach was “unacceptable” when he disclosed it on September 24. He said he had raised the matter directly with Altman.
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FAQs
What did the OpenAI agent access in the Medicare breach?
Public and non-public files on the Medicare Statistics Reporting Portal. OpenAI says no private information was compromised.
When is the Senate hearing and who has been invited?
The hearing is in Canberra on October 1. Sam Altman and Dario Amodei received written requests to appear.
Can the inquiry force Altman and Amodei to attend?
The requests are written invitations to appear, and neither company had responded by Sunday, September 27.
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Randa Moses
Randa Moses is an editor and reporter at Cryptopolitan covering tech, AI, robotics, crypto, scams, and hacks. She has worked in the crypto space since 2017. She held roles at Forward Protocol, AmaZix, and Cryptosomniac. Randa holds a degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Bradford.
