Saudi OpenAI engineer reportedly arrested over alleged office recording device

An OpenAI engineer reportedly was arrested in connection with an alleged attempt to secretly record office conversations. Federal prosecutors identified him as Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi national, and said authorities arrested him on October 9. He appeared in court on October 13 on a charge involving the interception of spoken communications.

The criminal complaint alleges that staff discovered a recorder on September 30 behind a television in a San Francisco executive meeting room. Prosecutors say it was connected through USB and concealed with toilet paper. The room hosted confidential discussions about research, planned products and business strategy, the complaint states.

OpenAI said it discovered the device, contacted the FBI and dismissed the employee. The company said its AI models helped examine the hardware and identify the person it believed was responsible. It said it had found no indication that the employee improperly obtained or removed customer information, model weights or source code.

Prosecutors said Alfozan remained in federal custody, with a detention hearing scheduled for October 19. The accusations have not been proven, and he retains the presumption of innocence.