New Delhi: A Saudi national employed by OpenAI has been arrested in the United States and charged with allegedly planting a concealed audio-recording device in an executive conference room.
According to the US Department of Justice, Abdulrahman Alfozan has worked as an engineer since July 2025 at the artificial intelligence company’s headquarters in San Francisco. He was arrested on 9 October and appeared in federal court on 13 October. He now faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $ 250,000 fine if convicted.
He is scheduled to appear in federal court for a detention hearing on 19 October.
The alleged recording device was discovered by OpenAI employees on 30 September, concealed in toilet paper and inserted into a USB port on the back of a television in the conference room.
Prosecutors allege that the conference room was used for discussions involving confidential research, product plans, commercial opportunities and OpenAI’s strategic decisions.
Alfozan had reportedly made inquiries about office locations, meeting-room calendars and the whereabouts of company executives before the device was discovered. Security personnel later found a second, similar recording device in a bag containing his identification and wallet.
“ Alfozan allegedly concealed a covert recording device inside his employer’s executive conference room to secretly capture sensitive communications,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement, adding that his motive appeared to be to capture information about the company’s AI product.
Used AI models
OpenAI is an American artificial intelligence research company. It is also the maker of ChatGPT, one of the most used AI chatbots. The company said it used its own AI models to help analyse the device and identify the employee allegedly responsible.
OpenAI said that they found no record of wrongful use or access of confidential code, model configuration or even customer data, adding that the employee has since been fired.
According to the FBI, Alfozan used a productivity tool and a chatbot to research sensitive locations at OpenAI and how to secretly place audio equipment.