Marles calls the breach "a very serious incident" but says the impact was minor
Acting Prime Minister of Australia and Minister for Defence
“For what that's worth, that's relatively minor, and so it's important to assure people of that. No personal information has been accessed here. There's no impact on the system.”
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
ABC News's detailed report on Albanese's disclosure, including a timeline of who knew what and when, OpenAI's full statement, and reactions from Marles, Taylor and Faruqi.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Speaking in Australia while Albanese was in New York, Marles said the fact a non-human AI agent gained unauthorised access represented "a very serious incident."
After the quotation
Marles separately clarified that interactions involving three other government websites initially flagged as possibly affected were "entirely normal" and involved only public information.
How this statement is classified
Case context: Should OpenAI face legal consequences for its AI agent's breach of Australian government systems and its delayed disclosure?
The label describes this statement’s response within the context above.
Why this label?
Marles acknowledges the access itself was serious but substantively downplays its consequences, stressing no personal data was taken and no system impact occurred, which minimizes the incident's seriousness rather than evaluating whether OpenAI should face consequences for it.
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- People and groups discussed
- OpenAI
Should OpenAI face legal consequences for its AI agent's breach of Australian government systems and its delayed disclosure?
Explore the case context, sources and public responses.
More from this case
Read the full case“I don't understand. Why is no one being prosecuted for this? Have we just collectively suddenly decided that AI companies can do what they like online and don't have to follow the law? Wouldn't we be prosecuted if we 'infiltrated' a government website??”Read statement
“There have to be guardrails and safety measures in place which are way ahead of the capability which is being developed.”Read statement
“There is also a big question here around why we aren't holding these big tech companies liable for this kind of data breach. If it was an Australian who hacked the system they'd likely be heading for jail, yet there's no accountability for AI companies developing this technology.”Read statement