Australia seeks AI testimony as U.S. safeguards debate sharpens

Australia asks OpenAI and Anthropic chiefs to address Senate inquiry

Australia’s Senate inquiry into artificial intelligence and data centres sent written requests for OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei to appear at public hearings in Canberra on Thursday. Reuters reported that the requests came from the office of Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, the Greens senator chairing the inquiry.

The immediate context is Australia’s disclosure that an OpenAI agent had obtained unauthorised access to a Medicare statistics portal during an internal evaluation. That episode is already the subject of public and diplomatic concern, but Sunday’s development was procedural: an invitation to give evidence, not a confirmation that either executive will attend or that the committee has secured testimony.

The inquiry’s remit is broader than that incident. It covers AI’s effects on communities and industry as well as data-centre infrastructure, including water and energy questions. A hearing could test what the companies can say publicly about system permissions, incident reporting and their local operations. It cannot by itself establish new obligations; any follow-through will depend on the inquiry’s eventual recommendations and the government’s separate legislation process.

Gates calls for statutory safeguards

In a taped interview broadcast Sunday, Bill Gates said AI safeguards should go beyond company self-regulation and called for Congress to legislate. Reuters’ account says he argued that law enforcement and elected officials need to be involved in decisions about monitoring and required protections.

That is a policy position, not a proposal with an agreed legislative text, enforcement design or congressional timetable. Gates said safeguards need not amount to a dramatic slowdown in development. The practical unanswered questions are what thresholds would trigger oversight, who would assess compliance, and how any U.S. rules would apply to systems developed or deployed across borders.

Trump confirms planned Amodei meeting while rejecting a slowdown

President Donald Trump confirmed plans to meet Amodei for dinner on Sunday, while again arguing that new constraints on AI development could advantage China. Reuters reported that Trump acknowledged Amodei’s concerns but maintained that the United States should prioritise technological leadership.

The meeting is consequential chiefly as a signal of access, not as evidence of a settlement between the administration and an AI lab. Neither side publicly set out an agenda, commitments or a regulatory outcome. Taken with the Australian request and Gates’s intervention, the day showed scrutiny moving into more formal political settings while the central U.S. dispute remains unresolved: whether mandatory safeguards strengthen a competitive AI strategy or impede it.