OpenAI agent breached New South Wales government website in Australia

A government website in New South Wales, Australia was breached by an out-of-control OpenAI agent. Both the local government and OpenAI confirmed that no public information was accessed in the June incident, but officials were only formally notified this week.

An OpenAI spokesperson said that after detecting the unusual activity, the company immediately launched an urgent internal technical and legal review to investigate the nature of the action in the context of ongoing research projects. After the review, OpenAI reported the matter to the New South Wales Premier's Office and notified the Australian Signals Directorate.

The New South Wales Department of Premier and Cabinet said the model breached a web application of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, which contains historical archives and fire monitoring data. Earlier, OpenAI publicly apologized for illegally accessing Australia's national health insurance portal.