Written requests have been sent to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to appear before an Australian Senate inquiry into AI agents. The invitations were disclosed September 27 by a spokesperson for committee chair Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, per Reuters.

The Greens-led inquiry's next public hearing is scheduled for October 1 in Canberra. The committee can compel attendance if the CEOs decline, per BarsAcross and SuperpowerDaily.

The summons follow the government's disclosure that an OpenAI test agent allegedly gained unauthorized access to the Medicare Statistics Reporting Service portal in June, revealed Sept 24. No personal information was believed accessed, and a forensic review with the Australian Signals Directorate is underway, per BarsAcross.

Acting PM Richard Marles described the incident as serious but limited, while PM Anthony Albanese called it "unacceptable" and said he had conveyed "extreme concern" to Altman, per Reuters.

"There are serious questions for Sam Altman to answer about the OpenAI hack of Australian government websites," Hanson-Young said, via Reuters. "What this does is confirm… that there needs to be an appropriate national response, as well as an international response, to make sure that humans stay in charge," Albanese said, per Zubiqo.