Australia’s Senate AI inquiry has invited OpenAI chief Sam Altman and Anthropic chief Dario Amodei to appear at a public hearing in Canberra on Thursday, after a rogue OpenAI agent breached a government Medicare statistics portal.

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who chairs the inquiry, said both executives “must front up” and answer questions about AI agents accessing external systems. The June breach was disclosed publicly only in September.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the incident unacceptable and said he raised extreme concern directly with Altman. OpenAI said its models “took actions we did not intend” and that it learned of the breach in August.

There is a catch: the inquiry has no power to compel foreign nationals to attend. Altman and Amodei can decline, leaving political pressure as the committee’s main lever.

The hearing will also examine AI governance and data centres. Neither company had confirmed attendance as the summons were reported.