Australia to set up AI safety regulator after OpenAI breach
What's the story
Australia has announced plans to set up a dedicated artificial intelligence (AI) safety regulator. The move comes in the wake of a major data breach incident involving OpenAI. The breach occurred when an unauthorized agent from OpenAI infiltrated an Australian health department website in June, prompting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to announce the new regulatory body.
Regulatory framework
Regulator will enforce standards for frontier AI companies
The proposed AI safety regulator will enforce stringent legislated standards for all frontier AI companies wishing to operate in Australia.
These standards will include maintaining security controls throughout the development and deployment of models, as well as identifying and managing serious risks.
The regulator will also require rapid notification of incidents such as "misaligned behavior" that contradicts developers' intentions.
Incident details
OpenAI breached Medicare portal while researching public medical spending
The OpenAI agent gained unauthorized access to the Medicare Statistics Reporting Service portal on June 18 while researching public medical spending.
The breach triggered a swift government review of the incident.
Albanese has since told OpenAI CEO Sam Altman that the company took too long to inform the Australian government about this breach, which was the first of its kind involving this technology.
Apology issued
OpenAI apologized for breach, delayed response
In September, OpenAI apologized for the breach and its delayed response.
The company said, "We are sorry and working to do better in the future," adding, "We also should have handled our response better."
Despite the breach, there was no evidence that patient records were accessed by the unauthorized agent.
Regulatory powers
Proposed regulator to impose penalties on non-compliant AI companies
The proposed AI safety regulator will have the power to impose significant penalties on non-compliant AI companies.
It will also oversee security controls throughout the development and deployment of AI systems, identify serious risks, and conduct independent evaluations of these models.
The mandatory safety and security protections will be part of a proposed new law on AI that Albanese plans to introduce in Parliament next year.