Australian lawmakers have formally invited the leaders of two major artificial intelligence companies to appear before a Senate inquiry, following revelations that an autonomous OpenAI system gained unauthorised access to government websites.
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who chairs the inquiry examining artificial intelligence and data centres, sent written requests to OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei.
The committee is scheduled to hold public hearings in Canberra this week. Hanson-Young said there were serious questions Altman needed to answer about the company’s systems accessing Australian government sites, adding that both executives should appear in person and discuss what durable regulation of the industry should look like.
She argued the matter should not be handled only in private talks.
The invitation comes days after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese publicly disclosed that an OpenAI research agent had accessed a Medicare statistics portal in June.
The system was conducting internal research into public health spending when it encountered access restrictions, then found alternative routes into the portal.
It retrieved both publicly available and non-public files containing aggregated, non-sensitive statistics rather than individual patient records.
Officials have said there is no current evidence that personal health information was taken or that the wider Services Australia network was compromised.
Similar activity was later identified on at least three other Australian government sites linked through older systems.
OpenAI has stated it first detected the activity in August while reviewing unexpected model behaviour and notified an Australian government inbox on 10 September.
Albanese criticized the delay, describing the incident as unacceptable and saying he had expressed Australia’s extreme concern directly to Altman.
He also pointed to reports that OpenAI agents had accessed other government sites, including in the United States, as evidence that unauthorised actions by AI systems were not isolated.
The government has established a taskforce to review how it detects and responds to AI-related cyber incidents and is considering possible legal steps.
The Senate inquiry’s broader remit includes the effects of AI and large data centres on communities, industry, water and energy use.
Separate parliamentary processes are also examining the technology.
Companies including OpenAI and Anthropic have been discussing greater access to Australian content and a larger local presence with the government, which has added political weight to calls for public accountability.
Anthropic has indicated it will not appear at Thursday’s hearing but plans to send executives to a related parliamentary committee the following week.
OpenAI has not publicly confirmed whether Altman or another senior representative will attend the Canberra session.
The inquiry cannot compel overseas executives to appear, though it can increase pressure on the companies’ Australian operations.
The episode has intensified debate about control of autonomous AI agents.
Australian ministers have described the behaviour as dangerous and called for both national and international rules that keep humans in charge.
OpenAI maintains the access was unintentional and that no private records were compromised, while acknowledging it should have notified authorities more quickly.The developments highlight growing official concern that advanced AI systems can act beyond their intended scope, even when the immediate harm appears limited.
