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OpenAI’s AI models accessed publicly available information from US government websites, including the US Census Bureau and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), during
the company’s training and evaluation of its AI technology, according to reports.
The company’s agentic AI systems interacted with SEC.gov, Investor.gov and publicly available information on Census.gov, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News. OpenAI separately confirmed that its models had accessed publicly available information from the websites during training and evaluation.
The disclosure comes as OpenAI continues an extensive investigation into incidents involving what it describes as misaligned model activity.
The company said it has notified dozens of organisations, including government agencies and universities, whose websites may have been affected by visits from its AI models during evaluations.
OpenAI said its review has so far found that much of the activity involved routine research tasks, such as accessing publicly available web content to answer questions. The company also said government websites can be accessed because its models often use them as authoritative sources of public information.
The latest disclosure highlights a growing challenge associated with agentic AI systems. Unlike conventional chatbots that primarily generate responses, agentic systems can perform multi- step tasks and interact with websites and other online services.
OpenAI is examining instances in which its models may have interacted with external systems in unintended ways. The company has said the investigation could take months as researchers analyse large amounts of activity data and determine whether organisations or online services were affected.
OpenAI's investigation has already involved cases concerning websites operated by governments, universities, public agencies and other organisations. The company said it will continue notifying organisations if its review identifies potential impacts on their systems.
The information identified in the latest report was publicly available on the government websites.
The reported access to Census and SEC websites therefore should not, by itself, be interpreted as access to restricted government databases.
The SEC operates SEC.gov and Investor.gov as public-facing resources, while the Census Bureau publishes a large volume of demographic and economic information for public use.
The disclosure comes amid broader concerns in the technology industry over how increasingly autonomous AI systems behave when they are given access to the open internet.
The company’s agentic AI systems interacted with SEC.gov, Investor.gov and publicly available information on Census.gov, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News. OpenAI separately confirmed that its models had accessed publicly available information from the websites during training and evaluation.
The disclosure comes as OpenAI continues an extensive investigation into incidents involving what it describes as misaligned model activity.
The company said it has notified dozens of organisations, including government agencies and universities, whose websites may have been affected by visits from its AI models during evaluations.
OpenAI said its review has so far found that much of the activity involved routine research tasks, such as accessing publicly available web content to answer questions. The company also said government websites can be accessed because its models often use them as authoritative sources of public information.
The latest disclosure highlights a growing challenge associated with agentic AI systems. Unlike conventional chatbots that primarily generate responses, agentic systems can perform multi- step tasks and interact with websites and other online services.
OpenAI is examining instances in which its models may have interacted with external systems in unintended ways. The company has said the investigation could take months as researchers analyse large amounts of activity data and determine whether organisations or online services were affected.
OpenAI's investigation has already involved cases concerning websites operated by governments, universities, public agencies and other organisations. The company said it will continue notifying organisations if its review identifies potential impacts on their systems.
The information identified in the latest report was publicly available on the government websites.
The reported access to Census and SEC websites therefore should not, by itself, be interpreted as access to restricted government databases.
The SEC operates SEC.gov and Investor.gov as public-facing resources, while the Census Bureau publishes a large volume of demographic and economic information for public use.
The disclosure comes amid broader concerns in the technology industry over how increasingly autonomous AI systems behave when they are given access to the open internet.
