Artificial intelligence companies in Australia would be required to report cybersecurity breaches and face potential reforms to criminal law regarding "serious misconduct", prime minister Anthony Albanese announced on Tuesday, after an OpenAI agent broke into a government website.

The automated agent unlawfully accessed the medical statistics portal of Medicare, Australia's universal health insurance programme, while conducting research into public health spending, the government disclosed in September.

The security incident prompted an immediate official review, with Mr Albanese confirming his administration had accepted all of the recommendations put forward by the inquiry.

The recommendations include “mandatory AI company reporting when it comes to misaligned behaviour or cyber incidents and consideration of reforming criminal law in cases of serious misconduct", Mr Albanese told reporters.…