Paterson questions timing of Albanese AI disclosure

Opposition defence spokesperson James Paterson has questioned the timing of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s public disclosure of an AI agent’s unauthorised access to a Medicare statistics portal.

Paterson raised the issue on the ABC’s 7.30 after Albanese disclosed that an AI agent developed by OpenAI accessed the Services Australia portal in June and that the company notified the government earlier this month through an email sent to a public mailbox.

Paterson said he believed the decision to announce the incident at the United Nations summit in New York was connected to the government’s broader approach to artificial intelligence and large technology companies. He said the government had questions to answer about when it knew about the incident and why the announcement was made at that time and location.

“I don’t think it was a coincidence,” Paterson said, arguing that the announcement aligned with the prime minister’s political agenda in New York.

Paterson also described the security incident as being at the lower end of the spectrum of seriousness. He said the information accessed by the AI agent was available to researchers and academics studying the health system and was not personal or private information.

He nevertheless said Australians were entitled to explanations about the incident and to confidence when governments enter agreements with major technology companies such as OpenAI.

Australia By Aussie previously reported on Albanese’s disclosure that an OpenAI agent accessed the Medicare statistics portal in June. The earlier report explains what the government said had been accessed and the investigations that followed.

The government has said the incident is being investigated, including whether any other government systems were affected. The broader response is also raising questions about how AI-related security incidents should be reported and handled.