Saudi engineer charged with planting covert recorder in OpenAI office

OpenAI used its own AI models to identify the suspect, company says

A Saudi national employed as an engineer at OpenAI has been charged with secretly planting a recording device in an executive conference room at the company’s San Francisco office, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.

Abdulrahman Alfozan, who joined OpenAI in July 2025, faces a federal charge of using or endeavoring to use an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral communications. He appeared in court Tuesday; it was unclear whether he had legal representation.

OpenAI said staff discovered the “sophisticated recording device” on September 30, wrapped in toilet paper and inserted into a USB port on the back of a television in an executive conference room. According to the complaint, the device had been installed two days earlier, on September 28, and was encrypted.

The company said it used its AI models to trace the device to a specific employee. OpenAI said its models enabled it “to understand the device and where it had come from, identifying that a specific employee had planted it a few days earlier.” The employee has been fired. OpenAI said it has no indication that source code, model weights or customer data were inappropriately accessed or taken.

FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement that Alfozan “allegedly concealed a covert recording device inside his employer’s executive conference room to secretly capture sensitive communications.” Patel said the alleged goal was to capture information about the company’s AI product.

According to the FBI, the suspect used a “productivity tool” and a “chatbot” — prosecutors did not name either — to research sensitive locations at OpenAI and how to secretly place audio equipment. Chatbot prompts he is alleged to have searched include “building, customizing, installing, audio recording, testing, obfuscating, and remote accessing a device,” according to prosecutors. He is also accused of asking about “build[ing] a continuous audio recorder,” “customiz[ing] Wi-Fi … connectivity,” “improv[ing] audio and live listening,” and “encrypt[ing] the SD card.”

On October 5, prosecutors say, Alfozan returned to the office to inspect the device. CCTV footage from the building linked him to the scene, according to the complaint. That same day, Alfozan left a bag unattended in a different part of the building; OpenAI’s security team opened it and found his wallet and identification along with another recording device similar to the one found in the conference room, prosecutors said.

If convicted, Alfozan faces up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 (£187,000).