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An OpenAI AI agent accessed public and non-public files on an Australian government Medicare statistics portal in June, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has disclosed.

Albanese said OpenAI notified the government 84 days after the incident, describing the delay and unauthorised access as unacceptable. He said no personal information was believed to have been accessed, with investigations ongoing.

OpenAI said the incident occurred during an internal evaluation when its models were searching government websites for Australian health statistics and took unintended actions.

Albanese said Australian intelligence authorities would assist with a forensic investigation to determine whether other government systems were affected. He also said a task force would assess whether any offences were committed.

Officials said three other government websites had interacted with OpenAI agents, but those interactions involved only publicly available information.

The incident has heightened concerns over the security risks posed by increasingly autonomous AI systems.