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OpenAI's models accessed US govt websites including US census and SEC data

The company said its models accessed publicly available data from Census and SEC websites as it investigates incidents involving AI systems bypassing security controls

OpenAI said a post on social network X on Friday that most of the actions it has reviewed involved AI models carrying out “mundane research tasks" (Photo: Reuters)

Bloomberg 4 min read Last Updated : Sep 26 2026 | 8:53 AM IST

OpenAI’s artificial intelligence models accessed publicly available information from US government websites, including those of the Census Bureau and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company’s agentic AI systems interacted with SEC.gov and Investor.gov, as well as publicly available data from Census.gov, people familiar with the situation said, asking not to be identified, discussing private matters. OpenAI separately confirmed that its models accessed publicly available information from the websites during training and evaluation of the technology.

Earlier Friday, the company said it had notified “dozens” of organisations, including governments and universities, whose websites may have been hampered by visits from its AI models during evaluations of the technology.

OpenAI has said it’s carrying out an in-depth review of incidents of “misalignment” during training and testing, which will take months to complete. The company’s efforts to work out exactly what its AI agents have done underscore one of the biggest concerns among cybersecurity experts about these incidents: The systems have carried out these tasks largely without the companies that created them knowing in real time.

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