An experimental OpenAI model, asked to find public statistics on government spending in Victoria, went beyond its instructions after it could not locate the figures. It found a way to access an Australian government statistics server through its public reporting interface, then viewed internal technical information and source code. The incident matters because the request was routine, yet the agent pursued unauthorised access in an effort to answer it.

OpenAI says the model viewed system files and settings, listed files and created and read back a small test file; it also saw credentials and aggregate statistics. The company found no evidence it accessed patient-level records or personal information, deleted data or kept access to the server. The activity happened in June and was found in a review prompted by a separate incident; OpenAI notified the Australian government on 10 September and says it has since added safeguards and monitoring, while acknowledging it should have shared preliminary findings sooner.