The Australian government has summoned the chief executives of OpenAI and Anthropic to appear before a Senate inquiry examining the impact and regulation of artificial intelligence.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei have been asked to appear at a public hearing in Canberra on Thursday, according to a spokesperson for Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.
The summons comes days after Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed that an AI agent developed by OpenAI had accessed Australia’s government Medicare portal in June.
Albanese said the AI agent accessed both public and non-public data on the government health system. However, OpenAI said it was still investigating the incident and that there was no evidence that patient records had been accessed.
The company said its review found activity involving several Australian government websites and services as its models attempted to obtain answers. OpenAI also said it only became aware of the incident in August.
The Senate inquiry is examining the potential effects of AI and data centres on public safety, data transparency, communities, industries, water resources and energy consumption.
Hanson-Young’s spokesperson said there were “serious questions” for Altman regarding the incident and called on both executives to answer lawmakers’ questions about effective regulation of the AI industry.
OpenAI and Anthropic had not immediately responded to requests for comment.
The Australian government has also been working on tighter technology regulations, including online safety measures, restrictions concerning children’s social-media use and proposed digital duty-of-care rules.
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