A 35-year-old Saudi engineer employed at OpenAI since July 2025 was arrested on October 9 and charged with illegally intercepting oral communications. The U.S. Department of Justice announced that Abdulrahman Alfozan allegedly planted a hidden recording device in an executive conference room at OpenAI’s San Francisco offices. Security personnel discovered the device on September 30, concealed in a USB port behind a television. According to authorities, the device was hidden in toilet paper and installed around September 28 with encrypted data inside. The conference room regularly hosted meetings involving OpenAI’s confidential research, product plans, technical capabilities, business relationships, and government engagements.
Surveillance footage allegedly showed Alfozan near the conference room multiple times despite lacking authorization to attend meetings there. Authorities say a chatbot account linked to Alfozan’s spouse was used to search for information about building and concealing recording devices. On October 5, security discovered a second similar device in a bag Alfozan had left unattended. OpenAI stated it used its own AI models to investigate and identify the responsible employee, who was subsequently terminated and referred to the FBI. The company reported no evidence of inappropriate access to model weights, source code, or customer data. If convicted, Alfozan faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Source: Read the full story at BleepingComputer
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