Rogue AI agent hacks Australian government website and other top stories | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the Global News podcast from. the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Oliver. Conway, and this is what we have coming. up. Australia says an OpenAI agent hacked. into a government website. We speak to. our correspondent in Sydney. >> Australia is perhaps positioning itself. to stand up to Big Tech, >> [music]. >> um and show that it means that it's. serious when it comes to digital safety, digital [music] security. >> The White House appears to ignore a. judge's order to lift a ban on three. media outlets. Tigrayan forces in northern Ethiopia say.

they're in a full-blown war with the. government. Chinese leader Xi Jinping visits. President Trump in Washington. And we hear from the female cyclist from. Afghanistan who survived life under the. Taliban to win a silver medal. >> [music]. >> There've been more than a dozen reported. cases of artificial intelligence going. rogue and getting into the computer. systems of other companies. Now comes. news of the first known AI hacking.

attack on a foreign government. Australia said an OpenAI agent breached. its national health data portal in June. The Australian Prime Minister, Anthony. Albanese, said he was very unhappy with. the US tech giant. >> I spoke with the CEO of OpenAI, Sam. Altman, to express Australia's extreme concern. about this incident. And I also. expressed my disappointment that it took. the company way too long. to inform the government uh what had.

occurred and the the the nature of the. way that that notification occurred as. well was unacceptable. >> Earlier, our Australia correspondent, Katie Watson, told me what happened. >> This AI agent uh breached a health care. data portal. So, Medicare is the universal health care. system here in Australia, and it. basically uh hacked into a portal with. lots of data, numbers, statistics. So,

it wasn't sensitive data, it wasn't. personal data. This was about numbers. And in fact, the the Deputy Prime. Minister, Richard Marles, spoke earlier. and said that this was relatively minor. in terms of a breach, but of course, that doesn't make it not serious. It was still a big concern, especially, you know, with the growing capabilities. of AI, what that could mean, you know, for the future. So, they've set up a. task force, and that's going to involve. agencies, cyber security agencies, AI.

agencies. They're going to look into. exactly what happened. And we know it. happened in June. In fact, OpenAI said that this is called. a misaligned model activity. Effectively, you know, instructions sent. to the AI agent to get some data meant. that they also did some activities that. they didn't intend to happen. That's how. OpenAI explained it. So, that happened. in June. OpenAI became aware of the. problem in August, and then it was in.

September, the 10th of September, that. they sent an email to Services. Australia, which basically looks after. the kind of portal. And it was an email that's often used. for um. academics, researchers to alert. authorities about vulnerabilities in the. system, which is what they did. But of. course, the Australian government has. been pretty crossed about the fact that. they didn't kind of escalate this. and talk to the government. at a quicker rate.

And that's what. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has. criticized the CEO for. >> Yeah, it's pretty extraordinary, given. the sensitivity of this issue, that. there wasn't contact at a higher level. much earlier. >> Yeah, I think that's what I mean. OpenAI. said that it was about kind of they had. to investigate what what was going on. And they kind of came to this because. they were doing some some investigations. into this. misaligned model activity. So it was one. of the incidences that came up. In fact, I was talking to a an expert earlier.

today who said that he'd been speaking. to lots of people today since this news. broke and the impression he got was that. actually Australia wasn't the only. government entity to be targeted that. there may have been other governments. in this as well, but Australia is the. only country that's actually spoken out. about this. But certainly yeah, it was kind of. looking at an investigation that. happened. that's why it happened in June. They. then looked at this found out in August.

But yes, the question is to why they. didn't immediately escalate. escalate this to the highest levels. is something that Australia. is trying to trying to get to the bottom. of and and. and the prime minister has said that. he's expressed his disappointment with. the CEO Sam Altman about why this wasn't. brought to their attention earlier. >> And it all adds to fears about AI, but. will there be any international action. on on getting some regulation on this? >> Well, it's quite interesting because you.

see Australia knew about this last week. and obviously Albanese is now talking. about it this week. and certainly I don't think it's a. coincidence that he's talking about this. with a whole bunch of global leaders. in New York right now. Especially we've. had as we've had Donald Trump talk about. kind of under but you know, like playing. down the threats of AI. I think. Australia's been. quite proud in being a world leader when. it comes to standing up to big tech. So.

obviously it's got the the world first. social media ban for under 16s. It's. announced what it calls the world's. strongest controls on algorithms and now. of course it's a world first AI kind of. rogue breach Um, that's something that I. think Australia is perhaps positioning. itself to stand up to Big Tech um, and. show that it means that it's serious. when it comes to digital safety, digital. security. >> The Trump administration appears to have.

ignored a judge's order to lift a ban on. three media outlets imposed by President. Trump. CNN, MSNBC, and Politico all said. their reporters were still barred from. the White House. The BBC's Katrina Perry is there. >> The president had banned access from. three outlets, CNN, MSNBC, and Politico. from coming here to the White House, and. as a result of that we saw the TV pool, the pooling arrangement between the. major US networks refusing to cover the. president's movements as a result of.

that ban. Now, a judge ordered late last. night that that be lifted. However, I. can tell you that when my colleagues. from those outlets turned up here at the. White House this morning they were still. not allowed to come into the building. And some of those who still had their. credentials actually had those. credentials removed. So, at this point. in time it's very unclear as to whether. the TV pool will be covering all of. those events between President Trump and. President Xi from the arrival right. through to many of the events today. So,

we'll keep a check on that. It's very. much a developing situation. >> Is Ethiopia on the brink of returning to. the devastating civil war that left. 600,000 people dead? Fighting has broken. out in the northern region of Tigray 4. years after a ceasefire there. Now, a. leader of the Tigrayan rebels known as. the TPLF says they are in a state of. full-blown war with the federal. government. Our correspondent, Thomas. Moore Quana, is following developments. in Ethiopia. >> This is the biggest escalation yet since.

the peace deal was signed in 2022 in. Pretoria, South Africa. Um, it features. the TPLF, which is the Tigrayan People's. Liberation Force. It operates in the. northernmost part of Ethiopia near the. border with Eritrea and it's a mostly. separatist and rebel movement that. controls and runs a legitimate. government according to itself. in Tigray region that is a region that. they say is disgruntled and removed from. power with the central government of.

Ethiopia and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. And so they they're saying that they. they they formed this alliance that is. of seven other armed groups within. Ethiopia from the regions and these. seven armed groups are saying that. they're going to topple the government. in Addis Ababa and that's why we're. seeing this new escalation. Yeah, of. course similar tensions led to that. civil war two years long many many. people killed. Is it the same tensions. which are leading to this now? Yes, it's. very similar. The only difference now is.

that TPLF is not doing it by themselves. They they have these six other groups. that are also considerably powerful with. arms and a lot of forces within the. regions in Ethiopia. So previously the. Ethiopian army would be fighting on many. fronts and now they're fighting a. unified force on the northern side and. also they're saying that the Ethiopian. government is claiming that that. alliance is getting a lot of help from. Egypt and Eritrea accusations that both. countries have refused and similarly.

Sudan has also been accused but if this. goes into full out full-blown war like. the TPLF is claiming. we could see a devastation much worse. than what we saw in 2020 to 2022 because. then and around half a million people. were killed and until now 4.7 million. people are displaced in the country and. that is also part of the problem and. that's what TPLF is citing as the. grievances that are taking them to war. and if this happens again it's looking. bad for Abiy Ahmed the Prime Minister.

because you remember that he won the. Nobel Peace Prize for again ending a war. with Eritrea in 2018 and now he's. accusing Eritrea of siding with the TPLF. and all these armed forces against his. government. If this happens, it's going. to be a big problem because what. this brought to the people of Ethiopia. in 2020-2022 was. humanitarian aid couldn't get to the. places it was supposed to go. Rape was. prevalent. People were murdered in the. most brutal ways. You had so many. stories of bodies washing up to the.

shores of rivers downstream. A prison. that was run by the Ethiopian. government. And similarly, the TPLF and. all these forces were accused of. committing crimes against humanity. And. this has not been investigated yet, but. it's going to be massive if if it goes. full scale. >> And still to come, how elephants in. Kenya have learned to medicate. themselves. >> [music]. >> A female cyclist from Afghanistan who. had to disguise herself as a man when. training has won a silver medal at the.

Asian Games. Fariba Hashimi came second. in the women's road race. I heard more. from our sports presenter, Isaac Fani. >> So, she's 23 years old, Fariba. She's. been cycling since she was 15 years old. in the Fayab province, which is in the. north of Afghanistan on the border with. Turkmenistan. And we've spoken at great. lengths on the BBC about the. difficulties facing many women in. Afghanistan, the repression of their. rights there, especially since the.

Taliban. took power back in 2021. And she was. actually forced to leave her home. back then when the Taliban returned to. power. And she told us about the. challenges she faced as a woman before. the Taliban took over cycling in. Afghanistan. >> Woman cycling for them is something. strange, something they never see. And. of course, they will try to stop you or. hit you. Most of the time I tried to. during the day when I'm going to train, I will completely wear my clothes.

because I had a me my dream, and at the. same time, when they recognized me, they. tried to hit me with the stone, tried me to hit me with the bottle. I. mean, sometimes, when they was. recognizing I'm a lady, they was trying. to close with the car, like this, I'm. crashing and falling down. >> You can hear the story there, really, really difficult story for her, but she. absolutely loves cycling, and I think. the the victory, winning this silver. medal, she wants to use it as a symbol. for Afghanistan women. She wants it to.

be, you know, an opportunity for women. to be able to see in her own country. that they can aspire. to a lot more. She actually got into. cycling because her older sister, Yulduz, was a cyclist in her country. They both actually competed. [clears throat] at the Paris Olympics. together, and the plan for them is to. have more. success and to compete at the 2028. Olympics in Los Angeles. >> Of course, Afghanistan at the moment.

suffering lots of economic difficulties, not to mention all the years of. conflict, but how successful in general. are Afghan athletes? >> For men, it's I think a lot easier to to. play and take part in sport. A few years. ago, we saw at the Cricket World Cup, the Afghanistan men's team getting to. the semi-final there. That was a really, really big moment for that team to to. reach a semi-final. But, for women, a. lot of repression, you know, especially. since the Taliban came back to power in.

2021. We saw a number of the women's. football team in Afghanistan actually. flee the country and take refuge in. other countries. And I I suppose for. people like Fariba Hashimi, she'll be. hoping that winning this silver medal. will will give the people or the women. in Afghanistan a bit of hope that they. can aspire potentially to do like she. has done and achieve their dreams. >> The visit by China's president to the. White House today is so important for.

President Trump that he traveled to. Joint Base Andrews yesterday to meet Xi. Jinping in person, the first such. presidential welcome since 1962. But the talks themselves could be quite. difficult as I heard from Celia Hatton. >> Many people are asking why would Donald. Trump go to such uh extremes to actually. make the trip to Andrews Air Force Base. to break uh protocol among US presidents. for the past six decades in order to.

personally uh greet President Xi, to. literally roll out the red carpet for. him and his wife. And and many people. are thinking, well, to be honest, that's. might be one of the only things that. Donald Trump can really positively offer. at the start of this trip to to set it. off a good tone and to and to really try. to stabilize the relationship. But. really, we're expecting very few. agreements on very solid issues and. really pressing issues that matter to. both sides. And so, it's thought that. maybe this is one of the few things that.

Donald Trump could could do. So, to. emphasize the warm personal relationship. between these two leaders of these two. superpowers, when really behind the. scenes, there's a lot of distrust on. both sides and frankly, a lot of. concerns in Washington and in Beijing. that the United States the Trump. administration is distracted at the. moment with what's going on in Iran. It. hasn't had the time and effort to devote. to its relationship with China. And so, there's a feeling behind the scenes at.

this summit that things are a little bit. thrown together and a little bit hastily. arranged. >> And what about AI? Are we likely to see. any agreements on joint regulation? >> Mhm. It's interesting. We heard from the. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bassin. saying that they discussed uh the. concept of an AI hotline. So, both. countries could pick up the phone and uh. uh contact each other in the event of an. AI-related incident with national. security implications. That raises a lot. of questions. First, we haven't heard. China really back this this the idea of.

a hotline. Also, you know, what has. national security implications? And. would they really want to call their. biggest rival to alert them that there's. been a problem? And what really. constitutes an AI incident of national. security uh. um implications? So, a lot of questions being asked, and. also a lot of disappointment that. they're not talking about broader. guardrails around AI safety, that. they're really reducing it to just a. phone line between the two. >> And other big issues, trade and Taiwan,

both difficult. >> Yeah, I mean, we've we've heard an. announcement today that this uh trade. truce has been extended for 2 months. So, so heavy tariffs that both sides. have threatened each other with uh. starting with uh Donald Trump's. announcement of heavy tariffs on China, that truce has been extended for for 2. months, uh presumably while they. continue to discuss. And then, when it. comes to Taiwan, we know that Beijing. wants Donald Trump to put on pause a $14. billion arms deal that the United States. uh to Taiwan, which the United States is.

considering. Legally, he is not supposed. to be discussing the prospect of arms. deals with Beijing. That's supposed to. be something that the United States. deals with on its own with Taiwan. Uh. but Beijing certainly wants a delay to. that deal. Most people think, even if he pauses it, it's unlikely that he will delay it. He. does have a a pretty strong record in. selling arms to Taiwan. >> African elephants in Kenya appear to be. using dozens of different medicinal. plants to treat themselves and even. provide medical care for sick calves.

That's the conclusion of researchers who. interviewed local people who spent. decades living and working alongside the. elephants in the Mount Elgon region. Here's our science correspondent. Victoria Gill. >> Mount Elgon's elephants are already. famous. They're known as Kenya's. salt-mining elephants. This region is. made up of montane forests and networks. of caves. And as these dark camera trap images. show, the elephants use the caves, going. in at night and gouging salt and other.

minerals out of the rock, apparently to. supplement their diet. This new study suggests the same. elephants use dozens of different. medicinal plants to treat themselves. when they're unwell, and even to give to. their calves. Researchers and local wildlife experts. worked together on this study. Scientists interviewed eight people. who've lived and worked alongside the. elephants for decades. >> I have come to realize about the. elephants over the typical plants. Sometimes. or.

or food. And other plants they eat. to be well. >> From the local experts' accounts and. from studies of the forest environment, the researchers identified 35 different. plant species that the elephants use. And 25 of those plants are already known. to have medicinal properties. >> What we're beginning to do in this study. and kind of others like it is we're. beginning to like map out those. complicated, interwoven vines that kind.

of weave between species, in this case. between ourselves and elephants, but. the future of our health care systems as. well rely on the protection of these. natural products. >> The next thing these researchers want to. find out is if these remarkable animals. could actually lead them to undiscovered. medicines hidden in this forest habitat. >> A Thai teenager called Nanai Royal has. been crowned winner of the latest series. of America's Got Talent. The 16-year-old. rock musician overcame magic acts,

canine performers, and even a robot. dance crew. I heard about the reaction. back home from our correspondent Panisa. Emosha in the Thai capital, Bangkok. >> This is a win for all Thai people. You. have a lot of people. She on the first. She on the first page of every news. She. actually become a breaking news in. Thailand. So, we can say that what she. won as a 16-year-old means so much for. the Thai people and the country. >> Breaking news, but many of her fans. there had trouble watching the final on.

TV. >> Indeed, because it's not really that. easy for a lot of Thai people to watch. the TV network like the NBC from the US. So, a lot of people had resorted to the. live stream on YouTube. But then on the. last two, she with another contestant, the the live stream got abruptly cut. And people were just like fainting and. wanting to know what happened and. wanting to know the result. But then we. have heard a lot of um results coming. from people that attending the. competitions and they post on social.

media and people are starting to feeling. relieved. And then um the light got back. and then once again they celebrate the. win. >> Yeah, she's only 16. Tell us about her. career so far and and what it holds for. her in the future. >> So, oh my god, her career has started uh. when she was 7 years old. And one thing. that we can say is like a plot twist. So, she start when she was supposed to. join a school club and she want to join. the computer science. But she woke up. late. She told um the people that she. woke up late and then she left with the.

music club. And then when she joined the. music club, she chose the guitar. And. then the first song that she practiced. on the guitar was Zombie. It was also. the first song the Zombie by the. Cranberries that she performed as Sweet. Child o' Mine. YouTube alone got her 20. millions. But she practiced. She loved. um rock music. She loved heavy metal. And she loved to become a rock star, a. cool girl. And that's what she doing. She not only cool, she successful. And. she's now become the daughters of the.

nations, become the daughter of. Thailand. And she have long road ahead. of her for her career international. She. have a dream to perform internationals. And back in July, she also said that she. writing her own song and we are eagerly. awaiting for her to perform that. >> And that's all from this edition of the. Global News Podcast. If you'd like to. get in touch, our contact details are. below. I'm Oliver Conway. Until next. time, goodbye. >> [music].