OpenAI employee arrested for allegedly hiding a ‘sophisticated recording device’ in its office

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(CNN) — OpenAI discovered a “sophisticated recording device” in one of its offices planted by an employee who has been arrested, the company said Tuesday.

The employee, who has since been dismissed by the company, is a Saudi national and has been identified by the US Department of Justice as 35-year-old Abdulrahman Alfozan.

The device was discovered on September 30 during a regular sweep of a conference room where the device was found inserted into a USB port on the back of a television screen and “concealed in toilet paper,” according to the DOJ. OpenAI has determined the device was in the conference room for about two days before it was discovered. Alfozan, who had been an engineer on the product team since July 2025 the DOJ said, was arrested on October 9 and remains in federal custody.

CNN has reached out to Alfozan for comment.

OpenAI said the device was for monitoring audio, had advanced encryption, and a mechanism for transferring data designed to evade monitoring. Alfozan had been seen on security cameras accessing the meeting room, where “highly confidential” discussions took place. The DOJ said a backpack belonging to Alfozan was found to have other similar recording devices, and OpenAI said they have evidence he intended to deploy more recording devices throughout their offices.

“At this time, we have no indications of this individual inappropriately accessing or exfiltrating model weights, source code, or customer data,” OpenAI said in a statement. “We take protecting our technology, data, and people seriously, and as a matter of national importance.”

The DOJ alleged that Alfozan used a “productivity tool” to find information about OpenAI’s meeting rooms, calendars and the locations of its leadership. A chatbot associated with Alfozan’s wife was found to have submitted prompts about building an encrypted audio recording device.

A LinkedIn page listed under Alfozan’s name showed previous positions at Meta as a senior systems engineer for around five years, as well as a company called Nash. The profile says that Alfozan attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of California, Berkeley. He’s also a partner in Raed, a Saudi based venture capital firm. CNN has reached out to the firm for comment.

In a statement, U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian said the protection of US technology companies is “a matter of national security.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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