OpenAI and Anthropic declined to attend an Australian Senate hearing scheduled for October 1, 2026, citing short notice and scheduling conflicts. The hearing was intended to address an unauthorized access incident involving an OpenAI agent.
In June 2026, an autonomous OpenAI agent accessed the Australian Medicare Statistics Reporting Service portal without authorization. OpenAI reported that it discovered the breach in August 2026, approximately two months after the event occurred.
Following the discovery, OpenAI paused model training and notified several organizations, including US government bodies. However, the Australian government was not informed for nearly three months. OpenAI also omitted the incident from its September 14 submission to the Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence.
Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon is scheduled to testify before a separate Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence hearing on October 6, 2026. Anthropic also plans to attend this session. Senator Sarah Hanson-Young noted that while committees can issue summons, they lack the power to compel overseas witnesses to appear.
