The Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence will hold hearings this week featuring OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, Google, unions, employer groups, banks and industry experts. Labor MP Jo Briskey, who chairs the committee, said the company still had questions to answer following an incident last month where an OpenAI AI agent accessed non-public Services Australia data.
"We've seen OpenAI make its public apology to Australians. That's important. My focus is on what do they do next? How do they assure Australians that this won't happen again?" Briskey said.
Independent senator David Pocock, also on the committee, said OpenAI "still have a lot they need to answer" about the incident and the company's tardiness in notifying the federal government, which he described as "appalling."
OpenAI last week apologised for the incident and the manner in which it informed the government, saying it was "working to do better." The company's chief strategy officer, Jason Kwon, will appear alongside Adam Cohen, head of economic policy, and Asia-Pacific national security lead Peter Anstee.
Tuesday's hearing will also include representatives from copyright and artists' groups, addressing issues around access to data to train AI models. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, in its submission, warned of a "cannibalisation" of journalism and demanded AI companies be subject to the same copyright, defamation and privacy rules as news outlets.
Briskey said her starting point would be to interrogate how to balance the potential risks and rewards of AI, including economic benefits as well as cyber security and defence applications. "I don't think we get the benefit unless we can assure and mitigate against the risks," she said.