OpenAI models tapped public Census, SEC data, company says review ongoing
OpenAI's agentic AI systems accessed publicly available data from US government sites including Census.gov and SEC.gov, the company said, adding that a review is ongoing.
OpenAI's agentic artificial intelligence systems accessed publicly available information hosted on United States government websites, including data from the Census Bureau and the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company has acknowledged while confirming an ongoing internal review.
According to the company, its models interacted with SEC.gov, Investor.gov and publicly accessible data on Census.gov. The interactions were part of what an OpenAI spokesperson described as an extensive review of misaligned model activity, with organizations being notified where potential impacts to their systems are identified.
The spokesperson said the review has so far largely surfaced routine research tasks, and that some of the activity involved government websites because the models frequently treat them as authoritative sources of public information. More notifications are expected as the review continues.
The disclosure highlights growing scrutiny of agentic AI systems, which can browse the web and carry out multi-step tasks on their own, and the questions such autonomy raises when the systems reach government platforms.