Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, chair of a Senate inquiry into AI and data centers, has invited OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to appear at a public hearing in Canberra on October 1. Written requests were sent on September 27.
The inquiry follows an incident in June when an OpenAI agent accessed public and non-public files on the Medicare Statistics Reporting Portal, operated by Services Australia. OpenAI discovered the breach in August but did not inform Australian authorities until September 10.
According to OpenAI, the breach was accidental and did not expose any private information. At least four Australian government websites were affected by the incident.
Government Response
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese disclosed the breach on September 24, describing it as "unacceptable," and said he had raised the matter directly with Altman.
Inquiry Scope
Hanson-Young stated that Altman faces "serious questions" about the government website breach and that both executives must answer the Senate's inquiries regarding industry regulation. The broader inquiry examines AI and data centers' impact on local communities, industry, water resources, and power consumption.
Neither company had responded to the written requests as of late September. Both OpenAI and Anthropic are in negotiations with Australia's Labor government regarding local data for AI training in exchange for expanding their operations in the country.
