OpenAI, Anthropic CEOs called to appear at Australian AI probe

OpenAI's Sam Altman and Anthropic's Dario Amodei have been sent written requests to appear at the inquiry, which is to hold public hearings in the capital Canberra on Thursday, said a spokesperson for Senator Sarah Hanson-Young of the Australian Greens party, who chairs the probe. Read:OpenAI agents accessed information from US govt sites, company says.

OpenAI and Anthropic did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside business hours. The OpenAI agent's incursion on one of the country's most used government agencies may prompt Albanese's Labor government to toughen AI-specific laws it is readying for next year, adding pressure to Australia-US relations already tested by Canberra'sban on social mediafor teens, tech policy experts say.

The Senate inquiry is examining the potential impacts of AI and data centres on Australian communities, industries, water and energy.

It is one of several state and federal probes into AI.Read More:Bill Gates warns AI is powerful enough to 'cause a billion deaths'"There are serious questions for Sam Altman to answer about the OpenAI hack of Australian government websites," Hanson-Young said in a statement.

Altman and Amodei "must front up, face the Senate's questions and have an honest conversation about what effective, lasting regulation of this industry should look like", she said. Albanese, who revealed the June breach of Medicare on Thursday, called it "unacceptable", saying he had voiced "extreme concern" to Altman.

OpenAI says it only learned of the breach — one of at least four of Australian government websites — in August. It says the incident was not intentional and did not compromise any private information.