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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 can do beyond applying political pressure on the companies’ local representatives.
Both OpenAI and Anthropic are currently in active negotiations with the Australian Labor government over expanded access to local data and content for AI training, in exchange for growing their operational footprint in the country.
The awkward position of Silicon Valley’s AI giants
Both Altman and Amodei have spent considerable effort warning the world about existential risks from uncontrolled AI. Altman has testified before the US Senate. Amodei publishes lengthy essays about AI safety. Their companies have built much of their public identity around responsible development.
The breach lands at a complicated moment for both companies commercially. OpenAI and Anthropic are competing aggressively for government and enterprise contracts globally. The ongoing negotiations with the Albanese government suggest both companies see real opportunity there.
What comes next for AI regulation in Australia
For the AI companies, the specific ask from the inquiry is straightforward: appear, explain what happened, and outline what safeguards exist. Companies in their position often send senior policy or legal representatives instead, which technically satisfies an invitation while keeping the CEO out of a room where the questioning can be unpredictable.
The inquiry’s lack of compulsory powers doesn’t make it toothless. The Albanese government has its own leverage: those negotiations over data access and operational expansion don’t move forward on their own.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Diego Almada Lopez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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