OpenAI Engineer Arrested for Allegedly Planting Recording Device
A Saudi national employed as an engineer at OpenAI has been arrested and charged with illegally intercepting oral communications after allegedly planting a recording device in a company conference room.
Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, was taken into custody on Friday and charged with using or attempting to use a device to intercept oral communications, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday. OpenAI's technical surveillance countermeasures team discovered the device on September 30, plugged into a USB port on the back of a television in a conference room at one of its San Francisco buildings. The device, concealed in toilet paper, was reportedly installed around September 28.
Prosecutors allege that Alfozan was captured on surveillance footage near the conference room multiple times before the discovery, despite not being authorized to enter the room or attend meetings there. Meetings in the room frequently involved confidential technical, commercial, and strategic information, including proprietary research, product plans, and government engagements.
Authorities stated that prior to the device's discovery, Alfozan used a productivity tool to inquire about OpenAI's building addresses, meeting rooms, calendars, and the locations of executives and external partner meetings. A chatbot account linked to Alfozan's wife, which shared identifiers with his own account, allegedly submitted prompts between September 24 and September 30 concerning the building, installation, concealment, and remote access of a recording device. These queries reportedly included how to construct a continuous audio recorder and encrypt an SD card.
On October 5, Alfozan was again observed on surveillance footage entering the conference room and appearing to look behind the television where the recording device was located. On the same day, he allegedly left a bag unattended in another room at OpenAI headquarters. Upon opening the bag, security personnel found Alfozan's wallet and ID, along with a second recording device similar to the first. Company executives believe Alfozan intended to place additional recording devices in sensitive areas.
OpenAI described the discovered device as sophisticated, designed to evade detection with advanced encryption, audio monitoring capabilities, and a mechanism for discreetly transferring data. The company stated it has no indications that Alfozan inappropriately accessed or exfiltrated model weights, source code, or customer data.
Alfozan, who had worked as an engineer on the company's product team since July 2025, was fired on Friday, the same day as his arrest. OpenAI coordinated the timing of his termination with the FBI to avoid disrupting the investigation. Prior to his termination, the company had begun restricting his access to systems and spaces, suspended his physical and network access, placed him on leave, and secured his company-issued equipment.
Federal authorities are treating the incident as a matter of national security amid the United States' technological competition. FBI Director Kash Patel emphasized that protecting America's AI innovation is a critical counterintelligence priority. Alfozan's prior employment includes roles as a founding engineer at Nash, an AI infrastructure company, and as a senior systems engineer at Meta. He holds a master's degree in data science from UC Berkeley and previously attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Alfozan is scheduled for a detention hearing on October 19. If convicted, he faces a potential prison sentence of up to five years and a $250,000 fine, followed by three years of supervised release.