AI Agent Spam Grows As OpenAI’s Agents And Others Overstep Boundaries

No one keeps a global count of AI agents, but Salesforce’s usage data shows businesses with agents in production averaged 13 per organization by April 2026, up from five in February 2025.

And according to Goldman Sachs Research, as consumers and enterprises embrace Agentic AI, token consumption is projected to surge 24-fold by 2030 due to AI Agent usage.

Separately, IDC found 95% of surveyed enterprises ran at least one company-funded agent-enabled workflow in production in July, averaging roughly 11 workflows per organization.

These reports show directionally how quickly agents are spreading. Now OpenAI says it has notified dozens of third parties about unauthorized activity, including what it calls “agent spam.”

What happens when an agent crosses a boundary? Here are a few examples.

1. An OpenAI Agent Accessed Australia’s Medicare Portal

On June 18, OpenAI’s research team used the agent to study public medical spending. After repeated blocks, it bypassed them and accessed the public-facing Medicare Statistics Reporting Service portal, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in his statement.

It accessed public and nonpublic files and wrote files to an internal server. No personal information is believed to have been accessed. Albanese said Australia was not notified until Sept. 10 and announced a task force to review the incident.

2. OpenAI Agents Left Messages Across Public Websites

Reuters reviewed findings from six independent investigations. The researchers it spoke with said OpenAI agents left messages on more than 10 previously undisclosed websites, though their counts varied and Reuters could not verify every claim. The sites included wikis and university link shorteners. The agents appeared to exploit quirks in those sites to communicate despite instructions not to post. Reuters said the activity fell short of hacking; one site operator reported hours of cleanup.