US federal agents have arrested a Saudi national accused of placing a secret audio recorder in a conference room at OpenAI's California offices, where he worked as an engineer.
Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, had been with the AI company since July 2025, according to the Department of Justice.
OpenAI found the thumb-sized device plugged into a USB port behind a television in an executive conference room at its San Francisco building on September 30, per an FBI criminal complaint.
The company then set up a camera in the room, which it says captured Alfozan entering last week and checking behind the television where the device had been installed.
Alfozan has been a legal permanent US resident since September 2020. A LinkedIn profile in his name says he studied at MIT and UC Berkeley and previously worked at Meta and Microsoft. Before OpenAI, he was a venture partner at Raed Ventures in Riyadh. Al Jazeera could not independently verify the profile details.
He appeared in court Tuesday on a charge of using a device to intercept oral communications. He is due back in court October 19. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release.
The FBI says the device, concealed in toilet paper, was installed around September 28. Its stored data was encrypted and inaccessible. Investigators later found a similar device in Alfozan's personal bag.
OpenAI said on X that it had evidence the employee planned to place other listening devices in sensitive areas to record meetings. The company said it saw no indications he improperly accessed or exfiltrated model weights, source code, or customer data, and that he was terminated.
The FBI complaint also alleges Alfozan used an AI productivity tool to ask about building addresses, meeting rooms, capacities, and calendars, despite lacking authority to access those spaces or meetings.
Attorney General Todd Blanche said on X that the alleged attempt to steal sensitive communications was taken extremely seriously and that theft of intellectual property involving cutting-edge superintelligence technology poses a serious threat to national security.
The case comes amid growing security concerns around sensitive AI research as companies and governments compete for talent and technology. OpenAI said its security program is designed to protect against threats from insider risks to cybercriminals to nation states, and that this case shows how AI can help address sophisticated security threats.
Source: Al Jazeera