SAN FRANCISCO — Federal agents have arrested a Saudi national who worked as an engineer at OpenAI and charged him with installing a hidden audio recording device in an executive conference room at the artificial intelligence company, the Justice Department said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, had worked at OpenAI since July 2025, according to the department. He was arrested on October 9 and charged with using an electronic device to intercept oral communications, a charge that carries up to five years in prison if he is convicted, according to prosecutors.
OpenAI discovered the device on September 30, plugged into a USB port behind a television in an executive conference room at one of its San Francisco buildings, according to an FBI complaint. The thumb-sized device had a microphone, could connect to a camera, was concealed in toilet paper, and its stored data was encrypted, investigators said. They believe it was placed there around September 28.
The Justice Department said Alfozan was not authorized to access the conference room. Surveillance footage showed him near the room several times before the device was found, and investigators later found a similar device in his personal bag, according to the complaint.
OpenAI said it used its internal AI models to help identify who planted the device, that the employee was terminated, and that it referred the matter to the FBI. The company said it had no indications that the individual accessed or took model weights, source code or customer data.
The FBI director said the bureau treats protecting American AI innovation as a counterintelligence priority. It was not immediately clear who Alfozan’s lawyer is, and the Saudi embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to Reuters. The allegations in a criminal complaint are accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
