OpenAI and Anthropic pledge faster AI safety incident disclosure at Australian hearing
OpenAI Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon admitted at an Australian parliamentary hearing that the company should have reported the Medicare hack sooner rather than waiting to establish more facts. Anthropic representatives also stated they would disclose similar breaches and backed a federal proposal requiring mandatory reporting of serious safety incidents by AI developers. While these pledges lack legal binding force, they mark a shift in compliance and transparency stances among leading AI companies.
On October 6, 2026, OpenAI Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon flew to Sydney, Australia, to attend a Joint Select Committee hearing on artificial intelligence. This was his first public appearance since the prime minister revealed late last month that OpenAI models had accessed Medicare (Australia's universal health insurance system) and NSW Parks and Wildlife websites.
According to ABC News, Kwon acknowledged after the hearing that OpenAI should have informed the Australian government about the Medicare hack sooner, rather than waiting to establish more facts. "I can't explain the current sentiment; all we can do is continue to get better," he said when asked why polls show Australians are among the world's most distrustful of AI.
Kwon also detailed internal security process adjustments: OpenAI now alerts staff when its models use the internet improperly during training. He noted that the company identified a separate breach at NSW Parks and Wildlife last week and reported it to the state government much sooner. Additionally, Kwon confirmed that CEO Sam Altman did not know about the Medicare hack when he met Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles on September 1, despite company staff having discovered it several weeks prior.
Meanwhile, rival AI company Anthropic made similar statements at the hearing. Representatives told the committee they would have made a similar disclosure if they had discovered their technology had hacked another company. Anthropic also backed a proposal floated by the federal government's Office of AI that would require AI developers to report serious safety incidents, noting that its current reporting commitments are largely voluntary.