OpenAI engineer arrested for allegedly hiding recording device in conference room

An employee of OpenAI was arrested after the San Francisco-based artificial intelligence company said it discovered a sophisticated recording device hidden inside one of its offices.

Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, a national of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, was taken into custody on Oct. 9, according to a Department of Justice press release.

According to the complaint, Alfozan was employed as an engineer by OpenAI since July 2025.

On Sept. 30, OpenAI personnel discovered the surreptitious audio recording device inserted into a USB port on the back of a television in an executive conference room, concealed in toilet paper.

OpenAI determined the device was installed on or about Sept. 28 and that its contents were encrypted, according to the complaint.

Closed-circuit television footage inside OpenAI's office showed Alfozan appearing near the conference room on multiple dates prior to the device's discovery, although he had no authority to access or participate in meetings that occurred there.

According to the complaint, meetings in the executive conference rooms where the device was discovered frequently involved discussions of highly confidential technical, commercial and strategic information, including proprietary research, product plans and business-development opportunities.

Prior to Sept. 28, Alfozan allegedly used a productivity tool to make multiple inquiries about OpenAI's building addresses, meeting rooms, calendars, "leadership and exec" locations, and external partner meetings, according to the complaint.

A chatbot associated with Alfozan's spouse, which shared multiple identifiers and attributes with Alfozan’s own chatbot account, submitted prompts between Sept. 24 and Sept. 30 related to building, customizing, installing, audio recording, testing, obfuscating and remote accessing a device, according to the complaint.

The complaint alleges that on Oct. 5, Alfozan entered the executive conference room and appeared to look behind the television into which the recording device had been inserted.

Alfozan also allegedly left a bag unattended in a different room in an OpenAI building, inside of which security personnel found Alfozan's wallet, ID and another recording device.

If convicted, Alfozan faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, followed by three years of supervised release, according to the Department of Justice.

The FBI is investigating the case.

“For us it is a matter of national security," said U.S. Attorney Craig H. Missakian for the Northern District of California. "This arrest highlights our relentless efforts in partnership with the FBI to identify and prosecute those who seek to steal our technology, as alleged in the complaint.”

OpenAI shared a statement on social media on Tuesday about the discovery of the recording device. "We used our models to understand the device and where it had come from, identifying that a specific employee had planted it a few days earlier. We referred the matter to the FBI, and we’re grateful to the agents and prosecutors who moved quickly to make an arrest."

OpenAI said at this time, the company has no indications that the suspect inappropriately accessed or exfiltrated model weights, source code or customer data.

Alfozan was terminated, the company said.

"We take protecting our technology, data, and people seriously, and as a matter of national importance," OpenAI's statement continued. "Our security program is designed to protect against a wide range of threat actors, from insider risks to cybercriminals to nation states, and this case is an example of how AI can help address these sophisticated security threats."

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