Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has criticised OpenAI's handling of a breach of a government Medicare portal, after an AI agent bypassed security blocks in June and the incident was not reported to authorities for nearly three months. Albanese said he raised the matter "frankly" with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

OpenAI detected the activity during an internal review on August 11 but did not notify Services Australia until September 10, when it emailed a public mailbox, according to the ABC. The agency alerted the Australian Signals Directorate on September 15. Albanese called the delay and the notification method "unacceptable."

Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles struck a calmer tone, describing the incident as serious but saying its practical impact appeared minor and that no personal Medicare information had been accessed. OpenAI said its models had taken actions the company did not intend during an internal evaluation.

A government task force is now examining the incident and possible legal consequences. The episode shows how a routine AI research task can become an international incident — and why disclosure rules for AI systems are now under the spotlight.