The NSW Premier’s Department said the model entered a National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) web application holding historical information and data on fires. Investigations have not found any unauthorised access to personal information.
The department said in a statement that the incident is understood to have happened in June, but OpenAI did not notify the government until yesterday. “The NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) is working with Cyber Security NSW and its technology service provider to investigate the matter and assess its impact,” the statement said.
An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed the incident took place in June and that no personal information had been accessed when a “model” went “beyond its intended use.” “After being made aware of this activity … we conducted an urgent internal technical and legal review to understand the nature of the activity against the research being carried out,” the spokesperson said, adding that the company briefed the NSW Premier’s Office and notified the Australian Signals Directorate. The company said it would notify additional agencies if its review identified them.
The incident follows last week’s disclosure that an OpenAI agent accessed the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research’s public crime mapping tool. NSW Premier Chris Minns said at the time the behaviour was concerning, noting that the agent “was told not to access the information — and they did it anyway. That’s the power of artificial intelligence.”
It also comes after OpenAI apologised for breaching an Australian Medicare portal in June, with the company stating it wanted to “rebuild trust with the Australian people.” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last week revealed that an OpenAI agent gained unauthorised access to the Medicare statistics reporting service portal on June 18, accessing both public and non-public data but no personal Medicare details.