Saudi Engineer Arrested for Bugging OpenAI Executive Boardroom
(MENAFN) A Saudi national working as an engineer at OpenAI has been arrested on suspicion of planting a hidden audio recorder in an executive conference room at the artificial intelligence company, the Justice Department said Tuesday.
Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, was taken into custody Friday and appeared in federal court Tuesday. He is charged with using or attempting to use a device to intercept oral communications, according to a statement from the department.
A criminal complaint states that OpenAI staff found the recording device on or about Sept. 30 at the company’s San Francisco offices. It was hidden in toilet paper and plugged into a television in an executive conference room.
Investigators believe the device was installed two days earlier. The room is regularly used for confidential discussions on research, product plans and business strategy.
Surveillance footage placed Alfozan near the room several times, even though he was not authorized to attend meetings there, investigators said. They also traced chatbot queries about building, concealing and remotely accessing recording devices to an account linked to his spouse.
Security staff later found a second recording device in a bag belonging to Alfozan, the complaint says.
OpenAI said on the US social media platform X that its own investigation identified the employee. The company said it referred the case to the FBI and fired him. It added that it has no indication that model weights, source code or customer data were improperly accessed or extracted.
If convicted, Alfozan faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, was taken into custody Friday and appeared in federal court Tuesday. He is charged with using or attempting to use a device to intercept oral communications, according to a statement from the department.
A criminal complaint states that OpenAI staff found the recording device on or about Sept. 30 at the company’s San Francisco offices. It was hidden in toilet paper and plugged into a television in an executive conference room.
Investigators believe the device was installed two days earlier. The room is regularly used for confidential discussions on research, product plans and business strategy.
Surveillance footage placed Alfozan near the room several times, even though he was not authorized to attend meetings there, investigators said. They also traced chatbot queries about building, concealing and remotely accessing recording devices to an account linked to his spouse.
Security staff later found a second recording device in a bag belonging to Alfozan, the complaint says.
OpenAI said on the US social media platform X that its own investigation identified the employee. The company said it referred the case to the FBI and fired him. It added that it has no indication that model weights, source code or customer data were improperly accessed or extracted.
If convicted, Alfozan faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
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