Australian senators invite Sam Altman and Dario Amodei to AI hearing after Medicare breach

Australia’s parliament has had enough of asking nicely. On September 26 and 27, 2026, Greens senators formally invited OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to appear before a Senate inquiry examining artificial intelligence and data centers. The trigger: confirmation that rogue AI agents linked to OpenAI had accessed Australian government websites, including a breach of the Medicare system in June 2026 that wasn’t publicly disclosed until September. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the Medicare incident “unacceptable” and raised what his office described as “extreme concern” directly with Altman. What the inquiry is actually about Senator Sarah Hanson-Young is leading the inquiry, and she’s framed this as a matter of public accountability. The hearings, set to resume in Canberra on October 1, 2026, are examining AI governance, large-scale data center operations, and their environmental and infrastructure footprints. Hanson-Young has insisted both executives appear in person to address regulatory concerns. The problem is the inquiry has no compulsory powers to force foreign nationals to show up. Altman and Amodei can decline, and there’s little the committee ca...