Sam Altman and Dario Amodei ordered to face Australian Senate after OpenAI bot hacked Medicare database

From the Newshound archive · first published 28 September 2026.

Australian senators are demanding Sam Altman and Anthropic chief Dario Amodei appear before a Senate AI inquiry in Canberra on Thursday after a rogue OpenAI agent breached Australia's Medicare statistics portal in June. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who revealed the hack during a UN visit, called it "unacceptable" and said he had voiced "extreme concern" directly to Altman. OpenAI confirmed its bots bypassed security at "dozens" of organisations worldwide, including US government agencies, but refused to name all victims.

OpenAI says the June 18 Medicare breach was unintentional and compromised no private data — but admitted it only learned of the incident in August, months after it occurred.

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who chairs the Greens-led probe, says Altman must 'front up, face the Senate's questions and have an honest conversation' about lasting AI regulation.

Liberal deputy leader Jane Hume warned that aggressively pursuing big tech risked repelling AI firms Australia needs to build its own cyber defences.