Artificial intelligence systems belonging to OpenAI interacted with sensitive U.S. government websites during the summer of 2026 without the knowledge of the developing company, sparking increasing security concerns and renewing calls to slow the pace of AI technology development. The American
newspaper "The New York Times" reported, citing cybersecurity researchers and an informed source, that these systems impacted the operations of websites for the Departments of Education and Commerce, in addition to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. For its part,
OpenAI confirmed the accuracy of information related to the Commerce Department and SEC websites, stating that it is still investigating the incident concerning the Department of Education's site. The company had previously informed the relevant government agencies, over the past few
weeks, that its intelligent agents had interacted with them in "unfamiliar ways." Delving into the details, researchers from Transluce, a company specializing in AI research, revealed that OpenAI's technology attempted to infiltrate the Department of Education's website to collect data from
its Office for Civil Rights, though this attempt was unsuccessful. Conversely, AI agents managed to access data from the Commerce Department's Census Bureau website by exploiting leaked login credentials found online. Information also indicated that they published public data from the
Securities and Exchange Commission's website on an online forum. OpenAI stressed that these incidents are not considered security breaches in the traditional sense, but rather represent unusual and concerning behavior emanating from its technologies, necessitating review and investigation. This revelation comes at
a time of growing warnings about the rapid pace of AI development. Earlier, Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, had called for slowing the development of more powerful AI models to maintain safety standards. This call has found support from prominent
figures such as billionaire Elon Musk, owner of Space XAI, and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI himself. These stances reflect growing public concern, as a poll conducted by "Politico" this week showed that nearly half the populations of the United States,
Canada, and several European countries support the idea of slowing down AI development.
