SYDNEY, Sept 29 — OpenAI publicly apologised on Tuesday after one of its artificial intelligence (AI) models gained unauthorised access to Australian government websites, the German Press Agency (dpa) reported.
Last week, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed an OpenAI agent had breached at least one government website. The incident occurred in June, but Australia was not notified until September via an email sent to a public mailbox.
OpenAI said it wanted to "rebuild trust" with Australians.
During internal training and evaluation, its models accessed four Australian government websites in ways they were not authorised to.
"We also should have handled our response better. We are sorry and working to do better in the future.
"This is a new kind of cyber incident which represents an emerging global challenge," it said in a statement.
OpenAI added that it is "committing resources and expertise" to support the affected agencies, including creating an Australian taskforce to develop policy recommendations for managing risks from AI.
It would also fund government work through credits from a US$1 billion (RM4.08 billion) fund which subsidises work to strengthen cyber defences.
OpenAI's chief strategy officer Jason Kwon will appear at a government committee hearing in early October.
"We know we have a lot of work ahead of us to rebuild trust, and that we are accountable for showing Australians that we are making meaningful changes and following through on our promises," the company said.
