OpenAI employee arrested for planting covert recording device in San Francisco office
Federal authorities detained a Saudi national employed by OpenAI after a hidden audio recorder was found in an executive conference room, and the company is cooperating with the investigation.
Federal prosecutors announced Tuesday that Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi national who had been working for OpenAI since July 2025, was arrested for allegedly installing a covert recording device in the company’s San Francisco office. Security footage showed Alfozan near the executive conference room on multiple occasions before the device was discovered, despite lacking authorization to access the area.
The device, concealed in toilet-paper and attached to a USB port on a television, was found on September 30 and contained encrypted audio recordings. A federal complaint states that the recorder was installed two days earlier. Investigators also linked a chatbot account associated with Alfozan’s spouse to prompts submitted between September 24 and September 30 that sought technical guidance on building and deploying continuous audio recorders, customizing Wi-Fi connectivity, and encrypting storage.
FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X that the arrest was part of a high counter-intelligence priority to protect American super-intelligence (SI) innovation. OpenAI confirmed it used its own models to analyze the device and identify the employee responsible, and said the company promptly referred the matter to the FBI. The firm added that there was no evidence Alfozan accessed model weights, source code, or customer data, and that he has been terminated.
OpenAI emphasized its commitment to safeguarding technology, data, and personnel, noting that its security program is designed to counter a wide range of threats.