SAN FRANCISCO — Federal authorities arrested an OpenAI engineer after discovering an encrypted audio bug concealed inside an executive conference room at the artificial intelligence company’s San Francisco headquarters, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old citizen of Saudi Arabia and legal permanent U.S. resident, was taken into custody on Oct. 9, according to federal prosecutors. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California charged Alfozan with using an electronic device to intercept oral communications, an offense that carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison if he is convicted.
Discovery of the Listening Device
A specialized internal security team at OpenAI first uncovered the recording apparatus on Sept. 30 during a routine room sweep, Fortune reported. Federal court filings show the device had been plugged into a USB port on the back of a television set and concealed in toilet paper. OpenAI said it immediately alerted federal law enforcement after determining the hardware possessed advanced encryption and mechanisms designed to evade detection while transmitting audio.
OpenAI said high-level company leaders regularly utilized the conference room to discuss proprietary technical progress, commercial strategies, product roadmaps and engagements with government officials. FBI Director Kash Patel stated that Alfozan “allegedly concealed a covert recording device inside his employer’s executive conference room to secretly capture sensitive communications about the company’s super intelligence technology.”
Patel emphasized that safeguarding domestic artificial intelligence development remains a top priority, adding that the bureau considers protecting super intelligence innovation “one of our highest counterintelligence priorities,” CNBC reported.
Investigation and Digital Trail
Following the discovery, OpenAI coordinated with federal investigators while keeping Alfozan under scrutiny. The company suspended his network credentials, confiscated his work hardware and placed him on leave before firing him upon his arrest. OpenAI stated that it used its own AI models to analyze the hardware and determine who had planted it, BBC News reported.
Prosecutors alleged that Alfozan, who started at the firm in July 2025 as an engineering lead, lacked authorization to enter the executive room. Closed-circuit security cameras captured him in the vicinity on several occasions. On Oct. 5, footage showed him entering the conference space and inspecting the back of the television where the bug had previously been positioned, according to court documents reviewed by Fortune.
Federal filings also revealed that security personnel located an unattended bag belonging to Alfozan on Oct. 5 inside another room at OpenAI. The bag contained his identification, wallet and a second recording device bearing the brand Seeed Studio, CNBC and Fortune reported. Furthermore, prosecutors said Alfozan consulted an online chatbot linked to his spouse between Sept. 24 and Sept. 30, submitting queries about creating continuous audio recorders, managing Wi-Fi connections, disguising equipment, setting up hotspot profiles and encrypting data stored on memory cards.
Flight Risk and Ongoing Inquiries
Law enforcement officials took Alfozan into custody three days before he, his spouse and a third family member were scheduled to leave the United States on a one-way trip to Saudi Arabia by way of Istanbul, Fortune reported. In addition to his work at OpenAI and past employment at Meta, Alfozan is listed online as a venture partner at Raed Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Riyadh.
OpenAI said it found no signs that proprietary models, source code or client records were compromised during the breach.
“At this time, we have no indications of this individual inappropriately accessing or exfiltrating model weights, source code, or customer data,” the company stated in a public post. “We take protecting our technology, data and people seriously, and as a matter of national importance.”
Alfozan made an initial appearance in federal court on Tuesday, with a formal detention hearing scheduled for Oct. 19. It remains unknown whether any recordings were successfully transmitted to outside entities before the device was seized.
