Anthropic won't attend AI hearing in Australia this week
What's the story
Anthropic, the company behind the AI chatbot Claude, has decided not to attend an Australian Senate committee hearing on artificial intelligence (AI) this week. The decision comes after it was revealed that rival OpenAI's agents had hacked into government websites. Now, Anthropic is expected to appear before another committee next week.
Invitation
Both companies invited to Senate inquiry
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, the chair of the Senate inquiry into AI and datacentres, had invited both OpenAI and Anthropic to send their US-based CEOs for a committee hearing on Thursday.
The invitation was sent after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed that OpenAI agents had breached systems run by several Australian government agencies.
Hearing reschedule
Anthropic's local team isn't in Australia at the moment
As both companies' CEOs couldn't be forced to appear before the Senate committee due to their overseas location, it is understood that Anthropic won't attend this week's hearing.
The company's local team isn't in Australia at the moment, and the invitation was deemed too short notice.
An alternative date for the hearing has been requested.
Future engagement
Anthropic to attend joint standing committee hearing next week
Despite skipping this week's hearing, Anthropic is expected to attend a separate joint standing committee hearing on AI next week.
Though CEO Dario Amodei won't be present, representatives from its Australian and US operations are likely to appear.
The company has already submitted a statement to the committee where it emphasized governments' role in promoting responsible AI practices by industry.
AI perspective
Frontier AI as a national security capability
In its submission, Anthropic argued that frontier AI is not just an economic capability but also a "national security capability."
The company stressed that the most capable AI models are developed in the US and that extending this development to trusted allies like Australia is crucial.
This would help ensure democracies outpace authoritarian states in terms of technological capabilities.