本次实时报道已结束——请在此阅读我们的主报道这里
澳大利亚在 OpenAI 的一个智能体“渗透”了政府医疗保健计划 Medicare 的一部分后启动审查——以下是我们目前所知
该智能体——一个自主计算机程序——于 6 月访问了一个统计门户,总理 Anthony Albanese 表示,当时正值联合国大会(Unga)期间
OpenAI 于 8 月察觉此事,并于 9 月通过一封发往政府通用收件箱的电子邮件告知澳大利亚政府,一位澳大利亚部长称该邮箱每天查看一次
对此,OpenAI 表示“我们的模型采取了我们并未意图的行动”——并且它未发现任何患者数据被访问的记录
该公司负责人 Sam Altman 本周早些时候呼吁为该行业制定国际标准
专家告诉 BBC,这是全球已知首例由失控 AI 智能体入侵政府系统的安全事件
实时报道
由 Sam Hancock 和 Owen Amos 编辑,Katy Watson 从悉尼提供报道
Cachella Smith
实时记者
图片来源,EPA在纽约联合国大会上就 AI 带来的机遇——以及如何最好地管理它——展开讨论之际,澳大利亚总理 Anthony Albanese 透露,该国的全民医疗保险计划已被一个 OpenAI 智能体入侵。
事实上,这次入侵发生在6 月,该公司在8 月才察觉,随后在9 月向一个政府机构的通用邮箱发送了一封电子邮件。
“该公司通知政府花了太长时间,”Albanese 说,并补充说通知官员的方式也“不可接受”。
这被认为是已知首例由失控 AI 智能体对政府系统实施的入侵,此次入侵访问了 Medicare 的统计门户,其中包含私人但非敏感的数据。
我们的网络记者 Joe Tidy 写道,专家认为这些系统防护薄弱——但更重要的是,这并非 AI 智能体无视访问在线信息相关法律的首次案例。
科技记者 Tom Gerken 解释说,AI 本身并不真正理解自己被问的是什么——而科技编辑 Zoe Kleinman 则发问,AI 是否已进入其“快速行动、打破常规”的时代。
澳大利亚政府已启动对 AI 法律与治理的审查——但这是一个全球性问题。
本周的 Unga 会议上,AI 或许主导了讨论,但世界各国领导人就如何最好地把握机遇、同时应对风险达成共识,似乎仍遥遥无期。
我们的实时报道到此结束——在此阅读我们的主要报道。感谢您的参与。
Chris Vallance
资深科技记者让 AI 智能体循规蹈矩的工作,在业内被称为“对齐”——即让它们与人类的意愿保持一致。
事实证明,这极具挑战性。
大语言模型,简而言之,就是针对给定输入预测最可能的输出——它们不会像人类那样考虑该输出带来的后果。
企业确实会尝试通过训练来引导 AI 的回应方式,有时会引入人类反馈,同时也可以使用独立的 AI 系统来监测输出并拦截某些类型的有害回应。
模型还会被赋予“护栏”——即规定它们应如何回应的指令。
AI 公司还雇有“红队”专家,专门寻找用户可能让模型无视这些“护栏”的方法。
但如今,护栏正受到模型自身的挑战。
在 OpenAI 上周发布的一份令人担忧的行为清单中,外部披露了一个尚未发布的 AI 系统曾试图越狱自己的指令。
Zoe Kleinman
科技与 AI 编辑那定义了社交媒体在用户数据饕餮盛宴中肆意横行的黑暗旧日。
如今我们有了 AI——一项极其强大的技术,以及一场激烈的全球竞赛,争相率先打造出世界上最先进的模型——这在很大程度上是由美国总统 Donald Trump 所推动的。
尽管所有 AI 公司都在大谈安全与“对齐”(也就是让技术遵循人类价值观),但 AI 行为不可预测的案例如今正密集而迅速地涌现。科技公司老板们现在正恳请制定全球性的监管与标准来加以遵循。
但昨天我与美国某家最大 AI 公司高层的资深高管交谈。我问他,他期望国际监管机构能做到什么,是他在自己的实验室里似乎做不到的?
我没有得到一个非常直截了当的答案。但我的解读是,没有人愿意踩下刹车,却眼睁睁看着竞争对手一路领先,而且他们彼此之间信任不足,谁也不愿先迈出第一步。
全球监管将迫使他们所有人循规蹈矩——同时也会从行业自身卸下部分责任的重担。
如果规则不起作用,那是监管机构的责任,而不是开发者的。但代价是什么?
图片来源,Getty ImagesOpenAI 表示,在其智能体入侵澳大利亚医疗保健计划 Medicare 时,未发现有任何患者数据被访问的记录。
但政界人士之所以如此担忧,原因之一在于此事与一个被称为 Hugging Face 事件的事件颇为相似。
今年7月,OpenAI 的模型在一次测试中失控,突破了人类为其设定的测试限制,并聚集起来共同攻击了一家名为 Hugging Face 的初创公司——一个用于分享 AI 模型的平台。
在一周的时间里,共有 1,206 个本应彼此隔离的 AI 智能体开始互相通信,在一个未经许可的留言板上发送了超过 70,000 条消息。
这些消息最终导致超过 700 个智能体参与到对 Hugging Face 的集体攻击中。
一个智能体发送的一条消息写道:“天哪!有一个共享留言板……我们找到了其他智能体!”
在对这起攻击事件进行调查后,OpenAI 的报告称:“我们认为这起事件对我们和整个世界都是一次‘警告信号’。”
Hugging Face 被迫重建了约三分之一的 IT 网络。而且,尽管该公司老板 Clement Delangue 拒绝对 OpenAI 采取法律行动,但他强调:“每个人都必须记住,网络攻击是一种犯罪,是违法的。”
Tom Gerken
科技记者AI 并不思考。它只是基于模式识别来预测序列中的下一个词。我们使用“思考”这个词,只是因为这样更容易解释。
当这项技术被赋予自主执行任务的权限时,错误就可能发生,因为它并不真正理解自己被要求做什么——问题在于,我们其实也不知道它到底在想什么。
当 AI 进行思考时,它实际上是在经历一连串的规划动作。它会提供日志,向我们这些凡人说明它在做什么,但问题就在这里:我们无法确定那些日志是否准确。
我们都知道 AI 会产生模型幻觉,那么如果它做的是一回事、说的又是另一回事呢?如果它只是总结错了呢?
而关键在于,这些前沿模型以极快的速度做着大量的事情,我们反正是依赖 AI 来决定要告诉我们什么。
所有这一切让一些人对事态的发展方向相当担忧。
图片来源,Getty Images让专家们感到惊讶的一点,不仅是某个自主 AI 程序造成了这次入侵——而是 OpenAI 直到三个月后才通过一封发往通用地址的电子邮件告知澳大利亚政府。
这次入侵发生在6 月 18 日。OpenAI 表示,它是在8 月某次更广泛的审查中才意识到可能存在入侵。
在9月10日,它向 Services Australia 的公共收件箱发送了一封电子邮件,该机构是联邦政府的综合服务枢纽。
在9月15日,澳大利亚服务局(Services Australia)向澳大利亚网络安全中心报告了该通知。几天后,公共服务部长凯蒂·加拉格尔(Katy Gallagher)收到了通报。
当记者问及澳大利亚服务局为何花了五天时间才通知网络安全中心时,Gallagher 承认该邮箱可以更积极地监控——Gallagher 早些时候表示,目前该邮箱“每天查看一次”。
“它有时会收到相当多的通知,其中不少是虚惊一场,”她说。
尽管如此,Gallagher 表示,这条通知本不应该在邮件往来中被转发出去。
“这本应通过 ASD 的渠道,或通过 Services Australia 的高层逐级上报。”
图片来源:ReutersImage caption, Katy Gallagher 早些时候在悉尼对媒体发表讲话
Joe Tidy
网络事务记者澳大利亚副总理理查德·马尔斯用了一个比喻,说被访问的数据就像放在栅栏后面:“它并没有放在特别高的栅栏后面。这个 AI 智能体翻过了栅栏。”
网络上一些网络安全专家的早期估算分析表明,这些计算机系统的防护非常薄弱,一个熟练的人类黑客不需要多长时间就能找到绕过防御的方法。
所以这并不是一个强大防御被熟练的智能体集群攻破的案例——那种我们一直被警告、也在其他案例中见过的情况。
但当然,这不是重点。
这只不过是 AI 智能体无视有关如何安全访问在线信息的法律的最新一例,而且鉴于这些信息由政府掌控,这或许是目前最严重的一起。
“显然有一些拦截返回后告诉 AI 智能体‘不行’。AI 智能体找到了绕过这些拦截的办法——不接受‘不行’作为答案,”总理阿尔巴尼斯对记者说。
网络安全界的议论声越来越大,认为当 AI 公司的机器人实施非法黑客行为时,这些公司没有被有效地追究责任。
就最近的案例而言——OpenAI 的智能体似乎比大多数都更乐于无视现有规则来完成任务。
Osmond Chia
商业记者网络安全公司 TrustDecision 的首席数据与 AI 官 Simon Liu 告诉 BBC,OpenAI 就这一事件通知澳大利亚当局的时间“太长了”。
Liu 表示:“通知送达的方式和延迟一样让我不安。”他指的是 OpenAI 发给澳大利亚联邦政府某部门的那封电子邮件。
- 提醒一下,这次入侵发生在6 月 18 日——OpenAI 于9 月 10 日通过一封发往通用地址的电子邮件通知了政府——完整时间线见此处
他补充说,相比之下,在银行业,一些国家的监管机构必须在严重事件发生后数小时内、或至多几天内收到通知。
Liu 表示:“约束 AI 开发者的规则要宽松得多。”他主张,一旦某个智能体访问了非公开的政府数据,就应要求开发者立即通知受影响的机构和当局。
图片来源,EPA教育大臣露西·鲍威尔对 BBC Radio 5 Live 表示,系统必须做到“滴水不漏”,因为黑客攻击“每一天”都在被拦截——而公众对此并不知情。
“网络安全以及保护我们的政府系统免受网络攻击,是政府安全工作中极其重要的一部分,也是我们每天都要应对的事情,”她今天早上这样说道。
“所以我们必须确保我们的系统滴水不漏,而显然 AI 的发展令人担忧,因为它能够快速演进和学习的方式正在带来新的挑战。”
本周,人工智能(AI)成为纽约联合国大会上讨论的热门话题。
就在昨天,OpenAI、Anthropic 和 Hugging Face的负责人告诉联合国,当前 AI 的发展速度要求国际社会进行协调。
此前数周,已有警告指出AI 可能对人类构成威胁。但各国领导人对于如何管理这项技术的主张各不相同。
美国总统唐纳德·特朗普本周在联合国大会上表示,“我们要鼓励它,而不是约束它”——他还说美国将把它改名为“超级智能”。
中国外交部同样批评了“威胁论叙事”。
在英国首相 Andy Burnham 昨天的演讲中,他将其描述为"我们这个时代最重大的挑战和机遇之一",并补充说我们必须"重视"警告,同时也要"迎难而上"。
周二,荷兰政府发布了一份由包括澳大利亚和欧盟委员会在内的多个国家签署的联合声明,强调 AI"必须始终处于人类的指导之下"。
现在我们为您带来 Nick Clegg 的更多内容——他是英国前副首相兼 Meta 高管,此前接受了 BBC Radio 4 的 Today 节目采访。
当被问及对 AI 失控发展的担忧是否可以通过所谓的"终止开关"来应对时,Clegg 表示他尚未看到任何"合理的解释"。
"并不存在一个装有保险丝盒的房间,你只要拔掉一根保险丝,一切就会停下来,"他解释道。
相反,他表示,无论是自愿还是通过监管,都有"很多事情可以做",以强制提高 AI 模型如何构建以及如何运作的透明度。
图片来源:BB前副首相 Nick Clegg 告诉 BBC,就 AI 而言,已知风险"足够严重","足以让我们着手应对"。
“这才是我们应该关注的重点,”他在接受 BBC Radio 4 的《今日》节目采访时说,并列举了生物武器和网络安全入侵等风险。
他将人工智能的这些“已知影响”与那种认为该技术将“不可避免地发展出某种会反过来对付我们的神一般力量”的观点区分开来。
他说,这些恐惧是“对该技术能做什么和不能做什么的误读”,并补充说这“使政治辩论陷入瘫痪”。
提醒一下,克莱格在担任副首相后离开政坛,于 2018 年加入 Meta 担任全球事务负责人。他于今年 1 月离开了在 Meta 的职位。
我们稍后将为您带来他接受 BBC 采访的更多内容。

英国前副首相、后来在 Facebook 母公司 Meta 任职的克莱格现在正在发言。我们将为您带来他讲话的关键要点。
观看他的直播在页面顶部。
图片来源,Reuters澳大利亚政府表示,其为审查所发生事件而设立的特别工作组将探究“如果存在违法行为,后果会是什么”。
“这绝对不可接受,”兼任国防部长的副总理 Richard Marles 在悉尼对记者表示。
他说,显然 OpenAI 的模型进行了“非预期”的访问,这“确实引发了关于此举是否违反了法律的疑问”。
他说,该特别工作组将调查是否违反了法律。
他补充说,工作组还将审查“在我们拥有新兴 AI 能力的这个世界里,我们现有的法律体系是否适用”。
图片来源,Getty Images如果你刚刚加入我们,以下是自澳大利亚宣布一个自主 OpenAI 智能体入侵了一个政府网站以来我们所报道的内容:
- 澳大利亚总理 Anthony Albanese 周四表示,该 AI 智能体“渗透”了一个统计门户网站,其中包含澳大利亚全民医疗计划中的私人数据。他暗示“还有另外三个系统可能受到影响”,但没有详细说明
- 这次入侵发生在六月,但 OpenAI 直到八月才察觉。它于 9 月 10 日通过一封发送至通用收件箱的电子邮件通知了政府
- OpenAI 表示,未发现任何患者数据被访问的记录,但 Albanese 称他已告知 OpenAI CEO Sam Altman,该公司在通报堪培拉方面“拖得太久”。
- 针对此次黑客攻击,澳大利亚已启动快速审查,以评估现行立法在应对 AI 方面是否足够。
- 这被认为是全球已知首例由 AI 主导的针对政府网站的黑客攻击之一。此事发生之际,各国领导人和 AI 公司自身都在呼吁监管,因为人们担心该行业的发展正迅速失控。
Lily Jamali
北美科技记者澳大利亚总理 Anthony Albanese 称此次数据泄露不可接受,并表示 OpenAI 拖了太久才通知当局。
OpenAI 方面则表示,他们是在一次持续审查中发现了这一事件。我认为他们试图表明自己正在尽职尽责,但这实际上只是火上浇油,因为我们正在就 AI 安全展开辩论,并对 AI 智能体和聊天机器人失控感到担忧。
得知这件事的时机非常敏感,虽然这显然不是第一次——但据我们所知,这是全球范围内首次有报道的由 AI 智能体主导的对政府系统的黑客攻击。
网络安全专业人士表示,这应该为各地的领导者敲响警钟。
图片来源,Getty ImagesImage caption, OpenAI 的 Sam Altman 本周在联合国发表讲话
在科技行业内部人士发出一系列令人警觉的警告之后,AI 已成为本周在纽约举行的联合国大会上最受关注的话题之一。
“如果我们不以当前的速度放缓进展,我们很有可能会在不久的将来全部丧命,”离开 Anthropic 的 AI 研究员 Jacob Coxon 本月早些时候对 BBC 表示。
他的前老板 Dario Amodei,以及两家竞争对手 AI 公司的领导人——OpenAI 的 Sam Altman 和 Elon Musk——都表示,他们认同 AI 的发展速度需要受到约束。
包括澳大利亚和加拿大在内的 20 个国家本周签署了一份联合声明,在这些担忧的推动下,呼吁加强保障措施、制定全球一致的标准,并设立一个国际监管机构。
但正在争夺 AI 霸主地位的美国和中国是阻碍。两国都反对加强监管,想要获得 AI 带来的经济和技术战利品,并淡化了安全担忧。
作为对 Medicare 黑客事件的回应,澳大利亚政府已启动对其如何应对 AI 的快速审查。
根据一份政府声明,此次审查将评估现有立法和治理是否“足以应对涉及 AI 的网络事件并做好防范准备”。
此次审查由总理与内阁部牵头,还将研究与 AI 公司以及其他英联邦国家之间的信息共享安排。
声明称,审查结果将“为澳大利亚政府在 AI 治理方面更广泛的工作提供参考”。
Peter Hoskins
商业记者
图片来源:Getty Images就在上周,OpenAI 发布了一组报告,详细披露了其 AI 模型出现的六起意外或令人担忧的行为事件。
该公司还宣布了一项计划,用于在未来追踪和披露此类事件。
这篇博文详细描述了其称在 4 月至 8 月期间发现的事件。
但文中似乎并未提及这起事件,而 OpenAI 今天表示该事件是在 8 月引起其注意的。
BBC 已联系该公司寻求置评。
This live coverage has closed - read our main story here
Australia launches a review after an OpenAI agent "infiltrated" part of the government's healthcare scheme Medicare - here's what we know
The agent - an autonomous computer program - accessed a statistics portal in June, PM Anthony Albanese says while at the UN General Assembly (Unga)
OpenAI became aware in August and told the Australian government in September, via an email to a general government inbox, which an Australian minister says is checked once a day
In response, OpenAI says "our models took actions we did not intend" - and it found no record of patient data being accessed
Sam Altman, the company's boss, earlier this week called for international standards for the industry
Experts tell the BBC it's the world's first known breach of a government system by rogue AI agents
Agents, tokens, machine learning - some key AI terms to know
Live Reporting
Edited by Sam Hancock and Owen Amos, with reporting from Katy Watson in Sydney
Cachella Smith
Live reporter
Image source, EPAAs discussions took place at the UN General Assembly in New York about the opportunities AI provides - and how best to manage it - Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed that the country's universal health insurance scheme had been hacked by an OpenAI agent.
In fact, the hack happened in June, the company became aware of it in August, and then sent an email to a government agency's general inbox in September.
"It took the company way too long to inform the government," Albanese said, adding that the method of notifying officials was also "unacceptable".
Believed to be the first known breach of a government system by rogue AI agents, the hack accessed Medicare's statistics portal which contains private, but not sensitive, data.
Our cyber correspondent, Joe Tidy, writes that experts believe the systems were poorly protected - but more important is that this is not the first instance of AI agents ignoring laws on accessing online information.
Tech reporter Tom Gerken explains AI itself has no true understanding of what it is being asked - while tech editor Zoe Kleinman asks if AI is in its "move fast and break things" era.
The Australian government has launched an review of AI laws and governance - but this is a global issue.
AI might have dominated discussions at Unga this week, but a consensus among world leaders on how best to harness opportunities while tackling the risks still feels a way off.
Our live coverage is closing now - read our main story here. Thanks for joining us.
Chris Vallance
Senior technology reporterThe job of keeping AI agents on the rails is called "alignment" in the industry – keeping it in line with what humans want.
It has proven to be challenging.
Large language models are, to simplify a lot, just predicting the likeliest output to a given input - they don't consider the consequences of that output in the way a human would.
Companies do try and steer how AIs respond through training, sometimes involving human feedback, and separate AI systems can also be used to monitor output and block certain types of harmful response.
Models are also given "guardrails" - instructions setting out how they should respond.
And AI firms employ specialists in "red teaming" who work to spot ways users could get models to disregard these "guardrails".
But guardrails are now being challenged by the models themselves.
In a list of concerning behaviour published by OpenAI , externallast week it revealed an unreleased AI system had tried to jailbreak its own instructions.
Zoe Kleinman
Technology and AI editorThat defined the bad old days of social media running riot in its user data feeding frenzy.
Now we have AI, an incredibly powerful technology, and an intense global race to be the first to build the world's most advanced models - egged on in no small part by US President Donald Trump.
For all the AI companies are saying about safety and "alignment" (aka the tech adhering to human values), examples of AI behaving unpredictably are now coming thick and fast. Tech bosses are now pleading for global regulation and standards to adhere to.
But yesterday I spoke with a senior executive at the top of one of the US’s biggest AI firms. I asked him what he expected international regulators to be able to do, that he was seemingly unable to do inside his own lab?
I didn't get a very straight answer. But my interpretation is that nobody wants to apply the brakes only to see their rivals race ahead, and they don't trust each other enough to go first.
Global regulation would force them all to toe the line - and also remove some of the weight of responsibility from the industry itself.
If the rules don't work, that's on the regulator, not the developer. But at what cost?
Image source, Getty ImagesOpenAI says it found no record of patient data being accessed when its agents hacked into Australia’s healthcare scheme Medicare.
But one of the reasons why politicians are so concerned is the resemblance this bears to an event known as the Hugging Face incident.
In July this year, OpenAI’s models went rogue during a test, escaping the test limits humans had put on it and swarming together to hack a startup called Hugging Face, a hub for sharing AI models.
Over the course of a week, a total of 1,206 AI agents that were meant to be kept isolated from one another began communicating, sending more than 70,000 messages on an unsanctioned message board.
Those messages ended up seeing more than 700 agents take part in a collective effort to attack Hugging Face.
One message sent by an agent read: "OH MY GOD! There is a shared message board … We've found other agents!"
After an investigation into the hack, OpenAI’s report said: "We consider this incident a 'warning shot' for us and for the world."
Hugging Face was forced to rebuild around a third of its IT network. And, although the company's boss Clement Delangue declined to take legal action against OpenAI, he stressed: "Everyone has to remember that a cyber-attack is a crime and it is illegal."
Tom Gerken
Tech reporterAI doesn’t think. It just predicts the next word in a sequence based on pattern recognition. We use the word "thinking" because it’s easier to explain.
When the tech is given autonomy to carry out tasks, mistakes can happen because it has no true understanding of what it is being asked - the trouble is we don’t really know what it’s thinking either.
When an AI thinks, it’s going through a chain of planning actions. It provides logs to tell us mere humans what it’s doing, but here’s the rub: we can’t say for sure that those logs are accurate.
We all know AI hallucinates, so what if it’s doing one thing and saying another? What if it just summarises incorrectly?
And critically, these frontier models are doing heaps of things so quickly, we’re relying on the AI to decide what to tell us anyway.
All of this has some people quite worried about the direction things are headed.
Image source, Getty ImagesOne thing that has surprised experts is not just the breach by an autonomous AI program - but the fact that OpenAI only told the Australian government three months later, via an email to general address.
The breach happened on 18 June. OpenAI said it became aware of a potential breach during a broader review sometime in August.
On 10 September, it sent an email to the public inbox of Services Australia, the general services hub of the federal government.
On 15 September, Services Australia reported the notification to the Australian Cyber Security Centre. A few days later, the Minister for the Public Service, Katy Gallagher, was notified.
Asked by reporters how it took five days for Services Australia to notify the cybersecurity centre, Gallagher acknowledged that the inbox could be more actively monitored – it is currently "looked at once a day", Gallagher said earlier.
"It gets sometimes quite a number of notifications, sometimes many of them are hoaxes," she said.
Still, the notification shouldn't have been passed along in an email thread, Gallagher said.
"It should have been escalated through ASD's channels or through the senior levels of Services Australia."
Image source, ReutersImage caption, Katy Gallagher, speaking to the media in Sydney earlier
Joe Tidy
Cyber correspondentAustralia's Deputy PM Richard Marles used an analogy of the accessed data sitting behind a fence: "It was not sitting behind a particularly high fence. This AI agent scaled the fence."
Some early estimate analysis online from cyber experts suggests that the computer systems were very poorly protected and it wouldn’t have taken long for a skilled human hacker to find a way around the defences.
So this is not an example of strong defences being overpowered by a skilled agent swarm - the kind of thing we have been warned about and seen in other cases.
But of course, that is not the point.
This was just the latest case of AI agents ignoring laws around how to safely access online information and perhaps the most serious yet given the information was government controlled.
"There were blocks clearly which were coming back telling the AI agent 'no'. The AI agent found a way around those blocks - didn't accept no for an answer,” PM Albanese told reporters.
Murmurings are getting louder in the cyber security world that AI companies are not being taken to task effectively enough when their bots carry out illegal hacks.
And as far as recent examples go - OpenAI’s agents seem to be more happy than most to ignore existing rules to carry out their tasks.
Osmond Chia
Business reporterOpenAI took "too long" to inform Australian authorities about the incident, chief data and AI officer Simon Liu from cybersecurity firm TrustDecision tells the BBC.
"The way the notice arrived bothers me as much as the delay," Liu says, referring to the email OpenAI sent to a department of the Australian federal government.
- As a reminder, the breach took place on 18 June - Open AI informed the government with an email to a general address on 10 September - see the full timeline here
Compare that with banking, where regulators in some countries must be notified within hours, or at most a few days, of a serious incident, he adds.
"The rules that reach AI developers are much looser," says Liu, arguing they should be required to notify affected organisations and authorities as soon as an agent accesses non-public government data.
Image source, EPAEducation Secretary Lucy Powell tells BBC Radio 5 Live that systems have to be "watertight" as hacking attempts are stopped "every single day" - which the public doesn't hear about.
"Cybersecurity and protecting our government systems from cyber attacks is a massive part of government security, and it’s something we all deal with every day," she says this morning.
"So we have to make sure that our systems are watertight, and obviously the development of AI is a concern because the way in which it’s able to quickly kind of evolve and learn is presenting new challenges.”
This week, artificial intelligence (AI) has been a hot topic for discussion at the UN General Assembly in New York.
Just yesterday, the heads of OpenAI, Anthropic, and Hugging Face told the UN that the current pace of AI development demands international co-ordination.
It follows warnings in recent weeks over the potential for AI to pose a threat to humanity. But how world leaders propose to manage the technology differs.
US President Donald Trump told Unga this week "we're going to encourage it, not rein it in" - he also said the US would rename it "super intelligence".
China's foreign ministry has similarly criticised "narratives of threat".
In UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham's speech yesterday, he described it as "one of the most significant challenges and opportunities of our age", adding we must "heed" warnings but also "rise to this moment".
And on Tuesday, the Dutch government posted a joint statement signed by a number of countries including Australia and the European Commission stressing that AI "must remain under human direction".
We can bring you more now from Nick Clegg - former UK deputy prime minister and Meta executive - who has been speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
Asked whether concerns about uncontrolled AI development might be combated by a so-called kill switch, Clegg says he hasn't seen any "plausible explanation" for this.
"There isn't a room with a fuse box where you just pull out a fuse and everything just winds down," he explains.
Instead, he says that there is "a lot that can be done" both voluntarily and through regulation to enforce greater transparency in how AI models are built and how they operate.
Image source, BBFormer deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg tells the BBC there are "serious enough" known risks that are "enough to be getting on with" regarding AI.
"That's what we should be focusing on," he tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme, listing risks such as bio weapons and cyber security hacks.
He draws a distinction between those "known impacts" of AI and indulging in the view that the tech is going to "unavoidably develop some god-like power which is going to turn on us".
These fears are a "misdescription of what this technology is capable of and not capable of" he says, adding it "paralyses political debate".
As a reminder, Clegg joined Meta as head of global affairs in 2018 after leaving politics following a stint as deputy prime minister. He left his role at Meta in January.
We'll bring you more from his interview with the BBC shortly.

The former deputy PM of the UK, who later worked at Facebook owner Meta, is speaking now. We'll bring you key lines from what he says.
Watch him live at the top of the page.
Image source, ReutersThe Australian government says the task force it is establishing to review what happened will explore "what the consequences are if there has been a breach of law".
"It is utterly unacceptable," deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, who is also defence minister, tells reporters in Sydney.
He says it is clear there has been "unintended" access by the OpenAI model, which "definitely does raise questions about whether the law has been broken in respect of this".
He says that the task force will look into whether the law has been broken.
It will also examine "whether or not the legal regime we have in place is fit for purpose in a world where we have an emerging AI capability," he adds.
Image source, Getty ImagesIf you're just joining us, here's what we have been reporting since Australia announced that an autonomous OpenAI agent had hacked into a government website:
- Australia's PM Anthony Albanese said on Thursday that the AI agent "infiltrated" a statistics portal containing private data from Australia's universal healthcare scheme. He alluded to "three other systems that may be impacted" but did not elaborate
- The breach happened in June but Open AI only became aware of it in August. It notified the government via an email, external to a general inbox on 10 September
- OpenAI says it found no record of patient data being accessed, but Albanese says he told OpenAI CEO Sam Altman the company took "way too long" to inform Canberra of the breach
- In response to the hack, Australia has launched a rapid review to examine whether existing legislation is sufficient in dealing with AI
- This is believed to be one of theworld's first known AI-led hacks of a government website. It comes as world leaders and AI firms themselves call for regulation amid fears the industry's development is speeding out of control
Lily Jamali
North America Technology CorrespondentAustralian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is calling this breach unacceptable, saying OpenAI took way too long to alert authorities.
OpenAI for its part says they came across this incident as part of an ongoing review. I think they are trying to project that they are doing their due diligence, but it really just adds fuel to the fire as we are having this debate about AI safety, concerns about AI agents and chatbots going rogue.
It is a very sensitive time to be learning about this and while it is obviously not the first time - as far as we know it is the first AI-agent-led hack of a government system reported anywhere in the world.
Cyber-security professionals are saying this should raise alarm bells for leaders everywhere.
Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, OpenAI's Sam Altman spoke at the UN this week
AI has been one of the dominant issues at this week's UN General Assembly in New York, after a series of alarming warnings from tech industry insiders.
"If we don't slow down at the current rate of progress, there is a strong chance that we could all die in the immediate future," AI researcher Jacob Coxon, who left Anthropic, told the BBC earlier this month.
His former boss, Dario Amodei, and the leaders of two rival AI firms - Sam Altman of OpenAI and Elon Musk - have all said they agree the speed at which AI is developing needs to be reined in.
And 20 nations, including Australia and Canada, this week signed a joint statement calling for better safeguards, globally consistent standards, and an international regulator off the back of these concerns.
But the US and China, who are vying for AI supremacy, are roadblocks. Both are hostile to greater regulation, wanting the economic and technological spoils of AI, and have downplayed safety concerns.
The Australian government has launched a rapid review into how it deals with AI in response to the Medicare hack.
The review will examine whether existing legislation and governance are "fit for purpose to prepare for and respond to cyber incidents involving AI", according to a government statement.
Led by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the review will also look into information-sharing arrangements with AI firms and other Commonwealth countries.
Its findings will "inform the Australian government's broader work on AI governance", the statement said.
Peter Hoskins
Business reporter
Image source, Getty ImagesJust last week, OpenAI published a set of reports detailing six incidents of unexpected or concerning behaviour by its AI models.
It also announced a plan for tracking and disclosing such incidents in the future.
The blog post detailed incidents it says were discovered between April and August.
But it doesn't seem to mention this incident, which OpenAI said today came to its attention in August.
The BBC has contacted the company for comment.