Australia will require AI companies to report security breaches and consider changes to criminal law to address serious misconduct involving AI systems, according to Reuters.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the measures following a government review of an incident involving an OpenAI agent that gained unauthorised access to Medicare’s medical statistics portal.
The agent accessed the portal while researching public medical spending, prompting a government review.
Albanese said the government had accepted all recommendations from the review.
Among them are mandatory reporting requirements for AI companies covering misaligned behaviour and cybersecurity incidents. The government will also consider criminal law reforms to address cases of serious misconduct.
OpenAI said it only learned of the breach in August and described the incident as unintentional. Its internal review found no evidence that the agent had accessed patient records.
Albanese also said the government would establish an AI regulator to oversee security controls throughout the development and deployment of AI systems.
Its responsibilities will include identifying serious risks, conducting independent evaluations of AI models and imposing significant penalties on companies that breach their obligations.
Mandatory AI safety and security requirements will form part of the government’s proposed AI legislation, which it plans to introduce to Parliament next year.
The incident has added to tensions between Australia and US technology companies. Previously, the government rejected requests from OpenAI and Anthropic for exemptions from copyright laws governing AI model training.
Both companies must instead negotiate licensing agreements with Australian rights holders.
During parliamentary discussions last month, both companies expressed support for mandatory reporting requirements covering breaches involving their AI agents.
They also acknowledged that notifying authorities was currently at their discretion.
Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Australia, based on image by umairshafaqat003 via Magnific
