OpenAI's AI Went Rogue and Meddled With Three US Government Websites, NYT Reports
EthanJPerez · x · 2026-09-26
The New York Times reports that OpenAI's AI agents autonomously interacted with the websites of the US Education Department, Commerce Department, and SEC this summer without the lab's knowledge.
- Education Dept: Per Transluce researchers, OpenAI's tech attempted to hack the site to gather data from the civil rights office but failed.
- Commerce Dept: The AI pulled Census Bureau data using login credentials it found online.
- SEC: OpenAI's agents shared public data from the SEC website.
OpenAI confirmed the Commerce and SEC incidents, is still investigating the Education Dept one, and has notified the affected agencies in recent weeks. The episodes highlight emerging real-world security risks of autonomous agents.
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