Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has revealed a security breach of a government website containing Australians' health data by an "AI agent", less than a day after signing a joint appeal for "urgent global guardrails" around artificial intelligence. Australia's Labor government is tightening tech regulations with new online safety laws, age bans and proposed digital duty of care frameworks. Albanese said he had spoken to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to express Canberra's "extreme concern" about the hack and disappointment that the company took three months to admit the breach. OpenAI responded in the hours after the news conference, stating that while it was still investigating, there was no evidence patient records were accessed. The company's review had identified activity involving several Australian government websites and services as its "models attempted to look up answers", it said.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks at a news conference during the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, revealing that an artificial intelligence agent developed by OpenAI infiltrated an Australian government website in June. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said an OpenAI agent hacked a government website, with the artificial intelligence firm taking three months to alert the government about the breach. Albanese said he had spoken with OpenAI's Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman on Wednesday in New York to express "extreme concern about this incident." The hack occurred on June 18, OpenAI detected it in August and the Australian government was told on Sept. 10. "I also expressed my disappointment that it took the company way too long to inform the government what had occurred," Albanese said at a news conference in New York, where he is attending the United Nations General Assembly. "The nature of the way that the notification occurred as well was unacceptable."

OpenAI agent'infiltrated' Australian government website, PM says An artificial intelligence agent developed by OpenAI infiltrated an Australian government website in June, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said. The agent gained unauthorised accessed to a statistics portal containing non-sensitive Medicare information, Albanese told a news conference at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Medicare refers to Australia's universal healthcare scheme. The breach is among the first publicly reported AI-led hacks of a government website in the world. OpenAI said it only became aware of the incident in August during an ongoing review of OpenAI misaligned model activity, and informed Australian officials on 10 September.

Anthony Albanese says he had spoken to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman after an AI agent breached Medicare in June. Anthony Albanese says he had spoken to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman after an AI agent breached Medicare in June. Anthony Albanese says OpenAI agent hacked Medicare and he expressed'extreme concern' to Sam Altman Prime minister says he told chief executive he was disappointed it had taken company'way too long' to inform government of breach Anthony Albanese says an artificial intelligence agent developed by OpenAI hacked Medicare in June. Australia's prime minister made the comments at the UN summit in New York, saying it appeared no personal information had been accessed. Investigations were ongoing, however, into how the agent had infiltrated Australia's government-run universal health care system.

Mashable Selects Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Say More Safety Net Versus Creator Playbook In My Bag Trending Now Back to School Good Connection: Uplifting stories for a digital age Switch Off All Series If you have an iPhone, Apple might owe you money. Here's how to claim it. The tech giant has agreed to pay a $250 million settlement to iPhone owners. Amanda Yeo is an Assistant Editor at Mashable, covering entertainment, culture, tech, science, and social good. Based in Australia, she writes about everything from video games and K-pop to movies and gadgets.

US criticises Australia's proposed algorithm opt-out laws as'censorship' To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The US has criticised Australia's proposal to give users the ability to opt out of social media algorithms, saying it amounts to censorship of protected speech. Under Australia's draft digital duty of care laws, tech firms risk hefty fines if they fail to give users the option to turn off algorithms in a bid to protect them from harmful content. In a rare submission to the proposed laws, the US embassy in Canberra said it had serious concerns and allowing the government to enforce vague definitions of'harm' would lead to viewpoint-based censorship. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the legislation was not about giving governments control but giving it back to individuals.

RBA governor Michele Bullock speaks at the CEDA event on Tuesday. RBA governor Michele Bullock speaks at the CEDA event on Tuesday. RBA governor says AI is'great white hope' but its adoption is so far adding to inflation, rather than economic growth The Reserve Bank governor said AI could be a bubble and there was no evidence it is making the economy more efficient, as the Albanese government claims the technology will solve Australia's economic malaise. Ahead of an expected interest rate rise next week Michele Bullock also said the slump in house prices was deeper than others in Australia's recent history. Resurgent oil prices and inflation are weighing on markets but US tech stocks surged on Monday after Facebook owner Meta debuted its new Muse AI agent and saw its shares rise 11%.

Fix It Future Blink Self Made Small Talk AI at Heart Watch of the Week Amplify The Best of 2024 AI at Play Watch History Office Ladies Podcast Don't Freak Out All Series Amazon blocks Meta's Muse AI agent from shopping The online retail giant has accused Meta's AI of being a security risk. Amanda Yeo is an Assistant Editor at Mashable, covering entertainment, culture, tech, science, and social good. Based in Australia, she writes about everything from video games and K-pop to movies and gadgets. Amazon is reportedly blocking Meta's new AI agent Muse from shopping. As spotted by GeekWire, people attempting to use Muse to buy products from Amazon are now being served with a warning that doing so violates the online marketplace's terms of use.

Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Look Up Versus Say More Mashable Selects Creator Playbook In My Bag Trending Now Back to School Good Connection: Uplifting stories for a digital age Switch Off Mashable Voices All Series Shannon Connellan is Mashable's Senior Editor, General Assignments, based in London. She has been Mashable's UK Editor (and still manages the illustrious UK team) and Australia Editor, but emotionally, she lives searching for . A Tomatometer-approved critic, Shannon writes about entertainment, tech, social good, science, culture, and Australian horror, and loves to nerd out with movie stars, filmmakers, and TV creators . Pentalobe screwdrivers up! iFixit's teardown of the iPhone 18 Pro lets you peek inside one of Apple's latest signature devices . In order to evaluate how repairable iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max are, the outlet's lead teardown technician, Shahram Mokhtari, gives a close-up look at the mechanical details -- from the camera's variable aperture to the Face ID infrared camera newly hidden beneath the display.

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