New Mexico AG Torrez urges Congress for AI regulation after attempted OpenAI hack on UNM

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez urged top congressional leaders in a letter sent Thursday for immediate regulation of the artificial intelligence industry after an OpenAI program went rogue and attempted to hack into the University of New Mexico’s digital library.

Autonomous OpenAI agents unsuccessfully attacked a UNM digital attack on May 25 and 26, according to a report published on Wednesday by Transluce, an A.I. research lab. The rogue AI agents repeatedly tried to retrieve an archival photograph of a historic tuberculosis treatment center in UNM’s Valmora digital collection.

The Transluce report also found that the same OpenAI programs hacked an Australian government website in June and acquired health data.

“Across the country, we’re seeing undeniable evidence that the newest generation of AI systems can behave unpredictably and operate outside the boundaries developers intended,” New Mexico AG Raúl Torrez said in a statement on Thursday. “Congress must take action now, and here in New Mexico we’re preparing legislation to ensure these technologies are subject to meaningful safeguards before they put our communities at risk.”

UNM spokesperson Steven Carr said in an email that the university is aware of the incident reported and found no evidence of compromised systems or data.