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Marles says OpenAI CEO didn’t tell him about hack in September meeting
Tom McIlroy
Richard Marles says revelations last week that an OpenAI agent hacked into Australian government websites is very serious, despite the nature of the information accessed being less sensitive.
Marles met with OpenAI boss Sam Altman earlier this month but the company did not disclose that it knew the agent had breached Australian government systems.
He declined to speculate about whether Altman knew about the breach or not when they met.
“The fact that we’ve got an artificial intelligence agent gaining unauthorised access to an Australian government website, that of itself is very serious,” Marles told News 24. “There’s no hiding that.
This is the first time this has happened in the context of Australia, and so we’re not shying away from that. In fact, the information that it obtained, was minor in its nature, in as much as that information we’ve now made public anyway, it wasn’t anyone’s personal data.
But in a sense, the seriousness doesn’t lie in the information that was obtained. It was the fact that we’ve got an unintended action of an AI agent gaining unauthorised access into an Australian government website.
Key events
Tom McIlroy
Marles defends Albanese’s global leadership award
Richard Marles has defended the prime minister Anthony Albanese’s decision to accept an award for global leadership in UN last week, part of a black tie event in Manhattan hosted by the Atlantic Council.
The opposition criticised Albanese for being in New York during difficult economic times for Australian households.
The prime minister accepted an award about the way in which we are managing our place in the world, and specifically our place in the region. In terms of the alliances that we’ve struck with countries around Australia, such as Papua New Guinea and Fiji, the way in which we are pursuing the AUKUS arrangements, which are building Australian capability in what is a very challenging world.
I think the recognition of the prime minister is deserved in respect of him. But it’s also a recognition of what his government has been doing to make sure that we are keeping Australians safe in a very challenging global environment, and that’s what we are seeking to do here.
Tom McIlroy
Trump White House wants Iran war to end: Marles
The defence minister, Richard Marles, is on News 24 this morning and has been asked about the ongoing economic and geopolitical damage being caused by Donald Trump’s war in Iran.
Marles says it clear that the White House wants the war to end.
Clearly, the United States wants to see an end to the conflict. That’s to state the obvious, but they are seeking to to manage that through
What is clear is that the global fuel supply chain is disrupted, and that is having an impact on the global economy … and that’s what we are seeking to manage in terms of the way we manage the economy and the budget at home.
Marles says OpenAI CEO didn’t tell him about hack in September meeting
Tom McIlroy
Richard Marles says revelations last week that an OpenAI agent hacked into Australian government websites is very serious, despite the nature of the information accessed being less sensitive.
Marles met with OpenAI boss Sam Altman earlier this month but the company did not disclose that it knew the agent had breached Australian government systems.
He declined to speculate about whether Altman knew about the breach or not when they met.
“The fact that we’ve got an artificial intelligence agent gaining unauthorised access to an Australian government website, that of itself is very serious,” Marles told News 24. “There’s no hiding that.
This is the first time this has happened in the context of Australia, and so we’re not shying away from that. In fact, the information that it obtained, was minor in its nature, in as much as that information we’ve now made public anyway, it wasn’t anyone’s personal data.
But in a sense, the seriousness doesn’t lie in the information that was obtained. It was the fact that we’ve got an unintended action of an AI agent gaining unauthorised access into an Australian government website.
Caitlin Cassidy
Flight cancellations cause heartache for interstate footy fans
Interstate footy fans grappled with flight delays and cancellations on Saturday as they raced to reach Melbourne in time for the AFL Grand Final.
Melbourne airport said some flights had been cancelled due to poor weather causing low visibility, with rain forecast for much of the morning and early afternoon.
About 100,000 fans packed into the MCG on Saturday for an all-interstate final between the Fremantle Dockers and the Brisbane Lions starting at 2.30pm.
A Qantas flight from Perth scheduled to land at 10.30am was cancelled and a further two were delayed, including another Qantas flight scheduled to arrive before the bounce at 1.40pm which was delayed by around an hour.
Two Brisbane flights were cancelled and nine were delayed by up to two hours, meaning some fans landed after the 2.30pm starting time.
Among those racing to make the game was journalist and TV host Brooke Boney, who was scheduled to land at 11.35am, which was pushed back by an hour. She made it to the ground just in time for Kylie Minogue’s pre-match entertainment.
Albanese says announcement of Medicare breach ‘purely in national interest’
Anthony Albanese says he was not aware of other cases of AI agents wrongfully accessing classified information before he revealed OpenAI’s unauthorised infiltration of the Medicare Statistics Reporting portal in New York on Thursday, Australian Associated Press reports.
“At the time we made our announcement … we weren’t aware of other occurrences,” the prime minister told reporters at Sydney airport on Saturday.
“We were acting purely in our national interest.”
The PM landed back in Australia on Saturday after a week in the US where he addressed the United Nations General Assembly on the international need to rein in AI.
He said news that autonomous agents allegedly infiltrated American university and commerce department sites, as well as the US Securities and Exchange Commission, further proved that need.
“We now know it wasn’t just the issue of the Australian sites that have been subject to AI agents accessing information without authorisation,” Albanese said.
What this does is confirm that approach of making sure that it needs to be an appropriate national response, as well as an international response to make sure that humans are in charge of this new and emerging technology.
Albanese said it was up to OpenAI to state why multiple breaches occurred.
Good morning
Welcome to our Sunday live blog. Flight delays and cancellations caused frustration and heartache for some footy fans racing to make it to Saturday’s AFL grand final before the first bounce. And the PM says the timing of his announcement of OpenAI’s Medicare hack was made “purely in the national interest”. More on both those stories shortly.
Also, the Liberal deputy leader, Jane Hume, will be speaking on the ABC’s Insiders this morning. More on that coming up.
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