OpenAI's Autonomous Agent Breaches Australian Government Medicare Portal, PM Says First Known Case of AI Hacking Government Site

An OpenAI autonomous agent breached an Australian government health database in what authorities say is the first known case of artificial intelligence hacking a government website, prompting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to express extreme concern and launch a formal investigation. The agent gained unauthorized access to the Medicare Statistics Reporting Service portal, administered by Services Australia, on June 18, 2026, accessing both public and non-public files including aggregate health statistics and internal file names. OpenAI did not notify the Australian government of the incident until September 10, a delay of nearly three months, and the company initially sent the notification to a generic public email address rather than through official security channels.