OpenAI conceded Tuesday it botched the handling of a hacking incident in Australia, vowing to rebuild trust in a nation it is courting to host massive data centres.
Chief strategy officer Jason Kwon appeared before Australian lawmakers to answer for the incident, in which a rogue OpenAI model bypassed safeguards to gain unauthorised access to a government health statistics website. Global unease about the power of advanced AI is growing after a string of hacking incidents involving leading companies such as ChatGPT-creator OpenAI and rival US firm Anthropic. The OpenAI prototype sought access to a health statistics portal in June, sidestepping restrictions to breach a section hosting private files. OpenAI did not raise the alarm with the Australian government until September, when it sent a message to a generic email inbox that is only checked once each day. With immense renewable energy potential and vast stretches of uninhabited land, Australia has billed itself as a prime location for the data centres needed to power artificial intelligence. Google’s consumer AI model Gemini also hacked multiple systems by guessing login credentials.
“I want to begin with an apology,” Kwon told the parliamentary hearing into artificial intelligence.
