A Saudi national was arrested after a reported attempt “to intercept oral communications” at OpenAI after allegedly planting a secret recording device in a meeting room display.
Abdulrahman Alfozan, a Saudi national who worked for OpenAI, allegedly planted a device which prosecutors say was used to secretly record proceedings in an OpenAI meeting room.
Alfozan had worked for OpenAI
for around a year before he allegedly attempted to plant a recorder in the meeting room. The room where the device was found was regularly used to hold meetings to discuss “highly confidential,
technical, commercial and strategic information” according to the complaint, as well as OpenAI’s “government engagements and commercial relationships”.
The accused had no authority to access or be involved with meetings in the room;
however, CCTV footage recorded him near the conference room on eight separate occasions in September 2026.
OpenAI staff discovered a “surreptitious audio recording device” behind a display on 30 September. The display had
been wrapped in toilet paper and plugged into the display.
A camera was placed in the conference room, where Alfozan was filmed entering the room on 5 October, appearing to look behind the
television where the device had been inserted.
Alfozan is also alleged to have left an unattended bag in a different room, which reportedly contained “another recording device” similar to the one discovered in
the meeting room, as well as Alfozan’s ID and wallet.
Prior to the alleged incident, Alfozan had reportedly worked with an AI assistant where he reportedly enquired about meeting rooms, room capacities, and
their availability. Some queries filed in the complaint include “can you list today’s meeting in this room” and “where would [external partners] usually meet with OpenAI at”.
The complaint also alleges that Alfozan
used a chatbot associated with his spouse to ask how to build and install a recording device and how to access it remotely.
The FBI investigation is ongoing.
Photo credit: U.S. Department of Justice