Saudi OpenAI engineer arrested over 'covert recording device'

Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi national employed as an engineer at OpenAI, was arrested Friday and charged with using a device to intercept oral communications after allegedly installing a covert audio recorder in a San Francisco conference room used for confidential business discussions. The Justice Department said Alfozan appeared in federal court Tuesday, where he faced charges related to the discovery of the device on or about September 30.

According to a criminal complaint, OpenAI personnel found the recording device concealed in toilet paper and plugged into a television in a room frequently used for sensitive discussions involving research, product plans and business strategies. Investigators believe the device was installed two days earlier on September 28.

Surveillance and digital evidence

Surveillance footage showed Alfozan near the conference room on multiple occasions despite lacking authorization to attend meetings there, investigators noted. They also identified chatbot queries from an account associated with his spouse regarding the construction, concealment and remote access of recording devices, according to the complaint.

Security personnel later discovered a second recording device concealed in a bag belonging to Alfozan, the filing stated. Investigators did not specify whether this second device contained recorded material.

Termination and penalties

OpenAI said on the social media platform X that the company identified the employee through its own internal investigation, subsequently referred the case to the FBI and terminated his employment. The firm added that it had found no indication that model weights, source code or customer data had been improperly accessed or extracted.

Alfozan faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted on the federal charges.