OpenAI accessed Australian government systems without authority, Hanson-Young tells inquiry

OpenAI has breached Australian government systems and taken information it was not entitled to, prompting the federal government to establish a task force to investigate whether a criminal act occurred, Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young told ABC News Breakfast.

Hanson-Young said the breach undermines the company's credibility as it simultaneously lobbies the government for weaker copyright laws and faster approvals for data centre rollouts. "OpenAI executives were in Canberra meeting with government officials trying to get weaker copyright laws, trying to get a fast track for their data centres, the infrastructure to superpower this AI technology," she said. "And so they want Australia to roll over for them and yet they're behaving like this."

The government acknowledged the seriousness of the incident. "That's why we've established a task force," a government official said. "That's why we are working very closely with OpenAI right now to understand every step, if you like, that the AI agents took in all of their interactions in this incident."

The opposition cautioned against threatening criminal action, saying Australia needs to maintain cooperation with the companies to access advanced AI technology. "The way to go about that is not to threaten criminal action against US counterparts and those trusted partners that we are relying on now to make sure that we bring those frontier models, that we can do the frontier model training here in Australia," an opposition member said.

Hanson-Young rejected that approach. "These are massive companies. We're talking trillions of dollars, billions and billions and trillions of dollars. I think the fact that they have breached Australian government websites, they do need to be held accountable for this," she said. She called for proper investment in AI security agencies rather than giving companies special treatment.

OpenAI has said it will continue to notify the government of any other unintentional breaches. Hanson-Young said companies must operate within the law like every other business. "Everybody else has to abide by the law. All other companies have to abide by proper regulation. AI should be no different," she said. "And in fact, because of the power of this new technology and the warning signs, which are very serious, not just taking people's jobs, but of course the risks to global stability and humanity, we need proper rules and regulations."

Hanson-Young said AI has not earned a social licence in Australia. "AI does not have a social licence in this country and behaviour like this really shows why. And it's gonna be harder and harder for AI to earn a social licence if they behave like this," she said. The Greens-led Senate inquiry is examining data centre rollouts across the country and has called the heads of major AI companies to appear before it.