Federal authorities arrested a former OpenAI engineer on Oct. 9 on suspicion of hiding a covert recording device in an executive conference room at the company’s San Francisco office, the U.S. Department of Justice said. The man, Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, is a Saudi citizen and U.S. legal permanent resident. He is charged under federal wiretap law with using a device to intercept oral communications, an offense that could bring up to five years behind bars, plus a $250,000 fine. OpenAI fired him, and the company and the FBI confirmed the case on Tuesday, CNET reported.
OpenAI said its staff discovered the first device on Sept. 30, during a routine sweep of the room. According to the complaint, the device was wrapped in toilet paper and tucked behind a television. The company said it alerted the FBI and spent the next 10 days working to contain the risk. OpenAI said it has seen no evidence that its products or customer data were compromised.
Court filings describe a second device found on Oct. 5 in luggage tied to Alfozan, stored near a printer room alongside his wallet and identification, CNET reported. Fortune reported that the affidavit does not establish whether the device captured any conversation. A forensic copy of its memory card could not be recovered or decrypted, the FBI agent wrote.
How investigators tied the case together
Prosecutors say prompts sent between Sept. 24 and Sept. 30 came from a ChatGPT account linked to Alfozan’s wife, Fortune reported. The complaint does not charge her. Business Insider reported that the prompts asked how to make the device record and store audio secretly, including speech-triggered recording and encryption. Fortune reported, citing people familiar with the investigation, that the chatbot was ChatGPT, but the complaint itself does not name the chatbot.
Security footage placed Alfozan near the conference room on 10 days in September, Fortune reported. The room could be booked only by executives and their assistants, and Alfozan was not authorized to enter it, CNET reported. The room is used for discussions of proprietary research and for meetings with government officials and business partners. OpenAI said it holds evidence that Alfozan intended to install more devices that would secretly capture company meetings, CNET reported.
Federal response
The complaint identifies the hardware as a Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32-S3 Sense, a small microcontroller with a built-in microphone and microSD storage, Business Insider reported. The company is based in Shenzhen, China. Business Insider said the board sells for about $24 on Amazon. Seeed did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
FBI Director Kash Patel called protecting American AI innovation one of the bureau’s “highest counterintelligence priorities,” in a post on X, CNET reported. Jay Clayton, the director of national intelligence, said the case shows why U.S. leadership in AI development matters for national security, according to the same report.
The arrest comes as Washington increases its oversight of AI companies. The Trump administration has framed AI as a national security issue, and federal officials have pressed for labs to be treated as critical infrastructure, CNET reported.
What happens next
Alfozan made an initial appearance in federal court in California on Tuesday. His attorney, William Pernik, told the BBC that the allegations appear “wholly out of character” for his client and that Alfozan is presumed innocent. A detention hearing is set for Oct. 19. Prosecutors asked that he not be released on bail. Federal speedy-trial rules set a 30-day window for an indictment, and grand jurors could add counts, Fortune reported. The complaint does not charge trade-secret theft or economic espionage. OpenAI said it has “no indications” that model weights, source code or customer data were taken. The FBI investigation is ongoing, and officials have not said whether anyone else was involved.
