Anthropic will not appear at Senate inquiry into AI and datacentres amid fallout from OpenAI hack

The chief executive of Anthropic will turn down an invitation to appear at a Senate committee hearing on AI this week, in the wake of the revelation that OpenAI agents had breached Australian government websites.

However, the company will make an appearance before another committee early next week.

The chair of the Senate inquiry into AI and datacentres, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, wrote to OpenAI and Anthropic last week asking for their US-based chief executives to appear before the committee on Thursday this week.

The invite came after the prime minister’s revelation that OpenAI’s agents had infiltrated systems run by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Victoria’s Department of Health, the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, and the Medicare statistics reporting service portal of Services Australia.

Neither company’s executives could be compelled to appear before the Senate committee, given they are based outside Australia, and it is understood that Anthropic – the company behind Claude – will not attend the hearing this week.

It is understood the company’s local team is not in Australia, and the invite was considered last-minute. An alternative date for the hearing has been sought.