An OpenAI employee was arrested after a hidden recording device was found in the company's executive conference room, according to the Department of Justice and a company post.

Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, a Saudi national, was taken into custody on Oct. 9. OpenAI said the device was planted days before its discovery and that the FBI moved quickly to arrest the employee, who was fired.

FBI Director Kash Patel said Alfozan allegedly hid the device to secretly capture sensitive communications about the company's super intelligence technology. The DOJ said Alfozan lacked authorization for the room, and footage showed him near it on multiple days, including entering on Oct. 5. A bag found at the building that day contained his wallet, ID and a similar recording device.

The DOJ said a chatbot account tied to his spouse was used to seek information on continuous audio recording and Wi-Fi, with prompts about building, installing, testing, obfuscating and remotely accessing a device. The device was concealed in toilet paper and its contents encrypted.

OpenAI said it had no indications of inappropriate access to or exfiltration of model weights, source code or customer data. Alfozan is listed as a partner at Raed Ventures, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Source: CNBC