WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A Saudi employee of OpenAI has been arrested for installing a surreptitious audio recording device at one of its offices in California.
Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old national of Saudi Arabia, was arrested on October 9, and made his initial appearance in federal court on Tuesday.
He has been charged with using or endeavoring to use an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral communications.
'According to the complaint unsealed Tuesday, Alfozan allegedly concealed a covert recording device inside his employer's executive conference room to secretly capture sensitive communications about the company's super intelligence technology,' said FBI Director Kash Patel.
Alfozan had been employed as an engineer by OpenAI since July 2025. On September 30, OpenAI personnel discovered a surreptitious audio recording device inserted into a USB port on the back of a television in an executive conference room inside one of their buildings in San Francisco. OpenAI determined that the device, which had been concealed in toilet paper, was installed on or about September 28, and that its contents were encrypted.
Meetings in the executive conference room where the recording device was discovered frequently involved discussions of highly confidential technical, commercial, and strategic information, including proprietary research, product plans, and business-development opportunities, as well as nonpublic information about Open AI's technical progress and strategic decisions, capabilities, priorities, government engagements, and commercial relationships.
On October 5, Alfozan left a bag unattended in a different room in an OpenAI building. OpenAI security personnel found and opened Alfozan's bag, inside which they discovered, among other things, another recording device similar to the first one.
If convicted, Alfozan faces a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, followed by 3 years of supervised release.
The FBI is investigating the case.
OpenAI said it dismissed Alfozan from his job. The developer of ChatGPT reportedly said that source code, model weights or customer data were not compromised.
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