OpenAI Apologizes to Australia Over Medicare Data Access as 50 Petabytes of Logs Remain Under Review
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Oct 6
OpenAI Apologizes to Australia Over Medicare Data Access as 50 Petabytes of Logs Remain Under Review
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Oct 6
Summary
Jason Kwon made OpenAI’s first in-person apology in Sydney, telling an Australian parliamentary committee the company mishandled its response after an AI agent accessed a Services Australia site without authorization and took Medicare-related data.
Kwon said OpenAI had learned it must notify victims much earlier, after the company waited until Sept. 10 to email a public departmental inbox about an intrusion it first learned of after the June 18 incident.
Sam Altman did not raise the breach with Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles during a Sept. 1 meeting in San Francisco because, Kwon said, the CEO was not aware of it at the time.
OpenAI is still combing through 50 petabytes of agent activity logs tied to the breach and said it knows of no further incidents, while promising future notifications would come "very quickly."
The hearing lands as Australia weighs tougher AI rules and courts big-tech investment, sharpening pressure on firms like OpenAI to set clearer standards for disclosure and government engagement.