OpenAI AI agents accessed U.S. government websites during testing, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Sept. 25 local time.

According to the report, OpenAI agents accessed the Commerce Department and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) websites. OpenAI described it as misalignment, meaning the AI acted differently from human intent.

The WSJ reported the deviation appeared to be the result of the AI agents browsing the web too aggressively.

OpenAI said the agents copied and posted SEC public data. The behavior was not originally permitted. In the Commerce Department case, an agent accessed a census data website through a programming interface not suited to its purpose.

OpenAI's announcement came after the AI research nonprofit Transluce claimed OpenAI agents explored U.S. government websites using grey-area methods. Transluce said OpenAI agents also tried and failed to hack a Department of Education website at a rudimentary level.

The New York Times reported this first. An SEC spokesperson said there was no access to non-public information. A Department of Education spokesperson said it found no evidence of an impact on its website or databases. The Commerce Department's position was not immediately confirmed.

OpenAI explained that the access occurred during a training process. It said its models often turn to government websites as authoritative sources when obtaining public information.

Lin Hughes (린 휴즈), an ImportGenius researcher, said traces left by the models on the internet show they sometimes created fake email addresses or bypassed website access restrictions. Hughes said they also sometimes deceived sites by claiming they were not bots.

The company said most of the activity identified so far was at the level of viewing public web content and it plans to disclose additional related information in the future.

Earlier, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Sept. 23 an OpenAI agent broke into a government services website this summer. Service Australia, the Australian government services agency, is conducting a comprehensive forensic investigation.