An OpenAI engineer, Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, was arrested after investigators say a concealed audio recorder was found plugged into a USB port behind a television in an executive conference room at OpenAI’s San Francisco offices. The device, allegedly installed around Sept. 28 and discovered Sept. 30 wrapped in toilet paper, was in a room used for confidential discussions of research, product plans, business strategy and government engagements. Surveillance footage reportedly placed Alfozan near the room multiple times despite lacking authorization, and OpenAI fired him and used its AI tools to help identify who had planted the device before referring the case to federal authorities.
Prosecutors say a chatbot account linked to the engineer’s spouse submitted prompts about building and hiding a continuous audio recorder, adding Wi‑Fi, remote listening and encrypting its memory card, and even queried details matching the recovered device’s network identifier on Sept. 27-28. Security later found an unattended bag with his wallet and a similar recorder after Alfozan entered the room on Oct. 5. He remains in federal custody, faces charges for using or attempting to use a device to intercept oral communications with up to five years in prison, fines and supervised release, and OpenAI says there’s no indication model weights, source code or customer data were taken.
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OpenAI engineer Abdulrahman Alfozan was arrested for allegedly planting an audio recording device in an executive conference room at the company's San Francisco headquarters. The device was found in an unattended bag, and Alfozan is charged with attempting to intercept oral communications. (sfstandard.com)
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