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US prosecutors have arrested and charged a 35-year-old Saudi national and OpenAI engineer with allegedly planting a secret recording device in an executive conference room at the company’s San Francisco headquarters.
The suspect, Abdulrahman Alfozan, who worked as an engineer at the artificial intelligence company since July 2025, was federally charged with using an electronic, mechanical or other device to use or attempt to communicate verbally..
According to the Attorney General and FBI ComplaintsAlfozan hid a thumb-sized, encrypted recording device wrapped in toilet paper and plugged it into a USB port on the back of a television in an executive conference room on September 28.. The meeting room regularly hosted discussions about confidential information about the company’s advanced superintelligence technology. A security sweep discovered the device two days later.
The investigators allege that Alfozan is seeking sensitive, proprietary insights into cutting-edge AI developments as companies compete fiercely for technological and strategic advantages..
Before planting the gadget, Alfozan and her husband allegedly used in-house AI chatbots and productivity tools to create building layouts, executive meeting room calendars, meeting capabilities and technical instructions to “build a continuous audio recorder.”
OpenAI stated that it discovered the sophisticated device and successfully used its own internal AI models to trace its origin and identify that a specific employee had planted it. CCTV footage subsequently linked Alfozan to the room.
When security teams later searched an unattended bag belonging to Alfozan elsewhere in the building, they recovered a second, identical recording device, alongside his wallet and ID..
OpenAI confirmed that the employee was immediately terminated and that the matter was referred to the FBI. The company added that there is no indication at this time that source code, model weights or customer data have been inappropriately accessed or exfiltrated.
Alfozan appeared in federal court after his arrest. If found guilty of the charges, he faces up to five years in federal prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.
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