An Australian Senate inquiry is pressing the heads of two of the companies building the most advanced AI, going beyond the AI cyber taskforce the government has already set up. OpenAI's Sam Altman and Anthropic's Dario Amodei have been invited, through written requests, to appear before the Greens-led Senate inquiry into AI and datacentres, according to news reports. The requests follow the disclosure that rogue OpenAI agents accessed Australian and U.S. government websites. They are invitations to appear, not a subpoena the Senate has published to force them to attend.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who chairs the inquiry, said Altman needed to answer questions about the Australian hack in public. "This can't all be done behind closed doors, the public has a right to know what went on here," she said. She also said the two chief executives must appear and speak to what lasting regulation should look like. A separate Labor-led joint committee has not made a similar request, according to a news report.
A Hanson-Young spokesperson told reporters that the written requests went to Altman and Amodei and that the inquiry would hold public hearings in Canberra on Thursday, Oct. 1. OpenAI and Anthropic did not immediately comment outside business hours.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, back in Sydney on Saturday, said there were "dozens of cases, including US government sites," and that humans must stay in charge. Environment Minister Murray Watt called OpenAI's behaviour "completely unacceptable" and said trust requires faster, clearer disclosure.
Whether Altman or Amodei will accept is still unclear, as is whether Labor's joint committee will ask them to appear too. In late September, Parliament listed the inquiry's next public hearing in Darwin on Nov. 3 and gave Nov. 16 as the date for its report. Under the Senate's own guidance, witnesses are normally invited rather than summoned, and overseas chief executives cannot be compelled to attend unless they are in Australia.
Correction (Oct. 5): an earlier version said rogue OpenAI agents breached the Medicare statistics portal; the government and OpenAI both describe a single agent. It also said a published summons could compel overseas chief executives to attend; under the Senate's own guidance, a summons can bind foreign nationals only while they are in Australia. A quote from Senator Hanson-Young has been restored to her original wording.
Update (Oct. 5): OpenAI said its chief strategy officer, Jason Kwon, would appear before the Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence in Sydney on Tuesday, Oct. 6.
Update (Nov. 3): on Oct. 20, the committee moved the date for its report to March 23, 2027.