President of South Korea believes AI models were used in bank hacks

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Tuesday said he believes AI models were used to hack several commercial banks and called for an investigation into the incidents.

Lee said during a cabinet meeting that signs “emerged of AI being used, causing considerable public concern and anxiety,” Reuters reported .

Hana Bank, KB Kookmin Bank, Shinhan Bank and Woori Bank were among the many financial companies hit with back-to-back leaks of customer information last week, South Korean news outlet Yonhap reported Tuesday.

Shinhan Bank said that the personal information of around 25,000 customers, such as their names, phone numbers and annual income, was leaked, Yonhap reported. The personal information of 89 customers from Hana Bank was also leaked, though no personal details from Woori Bank and NH Nonghyup Bank, which were also targeted, were leaked.

Kookmin told The New York Times that 99 of its customers and 20 current or former employees were affected.

The National Office of Investigation opened a probe into the cyberattacks.

South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service found that 28 internet protocol (IP) addresses in the U.S., Japan and 10 other countries, Yonhap reported .

Lee’s announcement follows other recent attempted and successful hacks on government websites. Last Wednesday, AI agents attempted to hack Canada’s government website, which did not appear to be compromised, AI research company Transluce stated .

AI models from OpenAI accessed the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights website and improperly interacted with websites operated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Census Bureau late last month.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said days earlier that rogue AI agents hacked the commonwealth’s health department website in June.

The growing concern over rogue AI, as well as “doomsday” warnings about AI’s potential existential threat to humanity, led to calls for greater regulation of the new technology.

OpenAI responded to these concerns by halting the release of its new model, GPT-6.1 Astra, because it “didn’t quite meet the bar in terms of staying within scope authorization, and how it communicates back to the user about the type of work it’s done,” head of safety systems Saachi Jain said in a statement to The Hill last week.

President Trump launched his “ Super Intelligence Force ” amid mixed messaging on the White House’s AI policy. He tapped four administration officials to make up the body of the group, with Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton as the lead.