Arabic version: مسؤول في «أوبن إيه آي» يعتذر عن اختراق «ميديكير»
According to ABC News, OpenAI chief strategy officer Jason Kwon apologised over the company’s Medicare statistics hack during a Sydney parliamentary inquiry into artificial intelligence. Kwon, who travelled to Australia following the disclosure, said OpenAI would work to rebuild trust after its handling of the incident drew criticism from the federal government.
Kwon said he could not explain why Australians were among the world’s most distrustful users of AI, despite highlighting the country’s adoption of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. “I can’t explain the current sentiment; all we can do is continue to get better,” he said.
OpenAI has made changes intended to prevent future breaches, Kwon told the hearing. The company now alerts staff when its models use the internet during training in ways they should not. He acknowledged OpenAI should have informed the Australian government about the Medicare incident earlier rather than waiting to establish more facts. He said the company identified a NSW Parks and Wildlife breach last week and reported it to the state government sooner.
Kwon also said chief executive Sam Altman did not know about the Medicare hack when he met Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles on September 1, although company staff had first learned of the incident several weeks earlier. An OpenAI spokesperson said Kwon would interview several people in Australia for the company’s proposed taskforce to guide its response.
At the Joint Select Committee hearing, rival company Anthropic said it would have made a similar disclosure if it found its technology had hacked another organisation. Anthropic supported mandatory reporting of serious AI safety incidents and said it was finalising an arrangement for Australia’s AI Safety Institute to independently test its models. Google and Microsoft urged regulation based on existing laws, common standards and rules that work across borders, while creative groups rejected calls to loosen copyright laws for AI investment. The committee is scheduled to hold another Sydney hearing tomorrow.
