Welcome back to your weekly federal politics update, where Courtney Gould gets you up to speed on the happenings from Parliament House.
asserted
Gould → welcome → House
Anthony Albanese couldn't have picked a better time to drop the metaphorical bomb that a rogue artificial intelligence agent breached an Australian government system.
asserted
agent → pick → system
The prime minister has been on the world stage all week, helping to push a statement by middle powers calling for greater safeguards and for AI to remain under human control.
asserted
AI → help → control
The statement was almost immediately rejected by US President Donald Trump, despite the chief executives of AI companies agreeing a slowdown in the pace of development for the technology was required.
asserted
slowdown → reject → technology
So, the prime minister's unexpected disclosure that an OpenAI agent had gained unauthorised access to a Medicare statistics website three months ago caused quite a stir, especially coming just an hour after the tech giant's chief executive Sam Altman warned about the need for "accurate and speedy" reporting of incidents.
asserted
executive → gain → incidents
The attack on the portal occurred back in June.
asserted
attack → occur → June
OpenAI knew of the incident in August and only informed Services Australia – via an email to a public mailbox – two weeks ago.
asserted
OpenAI → know → mailbox
"This situation is obviously unacceptable," Albanese told reporters in New York, where he has been attending the United Nations General Assembly.
asserted
he → tell → Assembly
A clearly frustrated Albanese said the Australian government could not find a precedent for the breach, although he stopped short of calling it a world first.
uncertain
he → frustrate → it
Who knew what, when?
asserted
Who → know → ?
After sitting on the news for more than a week, the government claims it wanted to get its ducks in a row before going public.
uncertain
it → sit → row
The Australian Signals Directorate was given the heads up by Services Australia last Tuesday.
asserted
Directorate → give → Australia
The minister responsible, Katy Gallagher, was told two days later.
asserted
minister → tell → ?
Albanese and his office were informed some time over the weekend.
asserted
Albanese → inform → weekend
In the days since, the terms of reference for a rapid review into Australia's preparedness for an AI-driven cyber-attack were drafted.
asserted
terms → drive → attack
A phone call was organised with Altman.
asserted
call → organise → Altman
During that phone call Altman acknowledged the actions of his company were not good enough.
asserted
actions → acknowledge → company
But he offered no apology.
asserted
he → offer → apology
In recent months, the government has been actively courting AI companies to invest in Australia.
asserted
government → court → Australia
A report released this week on the outlook of the Australian economy over the next 40 years, the Intergenerational Report, underpinned just how important the government considers AI to our future economic growth.
asserted
AI → release → growth
It's a delicate tightrope the government is trying to walk — enticing tech companies to train their models here by considering scaling back Australian copyright while simultaneously advocating for more controls.
asserted
government → try → controls
Richard Marles, who has been acting prime minister this week, met with Altman in San Francisco earlier this month.
asserted
who → act → Francisco
Marles, who was deployed to answer questions that trickled in over the course of the morning, said he wasn't sure what the OpenAI boss knew at the time of their meeting.
asserted
boss → deploy → meeting
"What we would expect is that the government be notified in the most timely manner possible.
asserted
government → expect → manner
And we have expressed our displeasure that that did not occur in this instance," he told reporters in Sydney.
asserted
he → express → Sydney
That led to predictable criticism from those across the political aisle.
asserted
That → lead → aisle
Greens Senator David Shoebridge declared OpenAI treated the defence minister “like a mushroom”.
asserted
OpenAI → declare → mushroom
"It's an insult not just to him, it's an insult to Australia that should not be left untouched," he said.
asserted
he → leave → Australia
She didn't touch on it either.
asserted
She → touch → it
While that doesn't mean she knew and didn't pass the message along, as my colleague Stephen Dziedzic reported, it certainly has officials annoyed.
asserted
officials → mean → message
There are several questions yet to answer, such as whether an AI-driven attack like this would even break Australian law as it stands.
asserted
it → be → law
That's something the rapid review, announced today, will be looking into.
asserted
review → announce → ?
LoadingAll smiles for a selfie as daggers drawn
All of this took place in the shadow of the prime minister's trip to the United States, where he was escalating Australia's fight against the social media giants.
asserted
he → draw → giants
From Apple's campus in Silicon Valley to the Big Apple, Albanese has been talking up his government's social media ban for under 16s and spruiking the proposed digital duty of care bill.
asserted
Albanese → talk → bill
The draft legislation would require the tech giants to pre-emptively address harms and pave the way for giving users a choice to opt out of the algorithm.
asserted
legislation → require → algorithm
In a rare intervention the Trump administration described the proposal as "extraterritorial censorship of protected speech" and called for exemptions for US-based platforms.
asserted
administration → describe → platforms
If that sounds familiar, it's because the opposition has been running a similar line in recent weeks.
asserted
opposition → sound → weeks
The Coalition is concerned the bill hands the minister too much power to determine what constitutes online harm.
asserted
what → concern → harm
Albanese hit back at his first opportunity, dismissing the criticism.
asserted
Albanese → hit → criticism
But he went beyond linking the legislation to the protection of children, pointing also to misinformation, disinformation and polarisation online — exactly the things the Coalition has been saying it was concerned about.
asserted
it → go → misinformation
…and 8 more, not listed.
The Aporia
