Federal authorities have arrested a 35-year-old OpenAI engineer accused of secretly placing an advanced audio recording device inside an executive conference room at the company’s headquarters to capture sensitive conversations about its artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
The suspect, Abdulrahman Alfozan, a Saudi national who joined OpenAI’s product team in July 2025, was taken into custody on Oct. 9 following a criminal complaint filed in federal court in San Francisco.
Alfozan appeared in court Tuesday charged with using or attempting to use an electronic device to intercept oral communications. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.
The surveillance device was discovered on Sept. 30 concealed inside toilet paper and plugged into a USB port behind a television in a main conference room, according to federal prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.
OpenAI revealed it utilized its own internal AI models to analyze the hardware and trace its origin. The company described the mechanism as a “sophisticated” device featuring advanced encryption, audio monitoring, and anti-monitoring data transfer capabilities.
“We used our models to understand the device and where it had come from, identifying that a specific employee had planted it a few days earlier,” OpenAI said in a statement. “We referred the matter to the FBI, and we’re grateful to the agents and prosecutors who moved quickly to make an arrest.”
Court filings show that although the conference room initially lacked video surveillance, office security cameras recorded Alfozan near the unauthorized area on six occasions last month. Additionally, internal logs indicated he used productivity tools to query building addresses, room capacities, and executive calendars.
After discovering the bug, OpenAI installed a hidden camera in the conference room, which subsequently captured Alfozan entering the room to inspect the space behind the television. Prior to his arrest, investigators also recovered an unattended bag left by Alfozan in another room containing his wallet, identification, and a second recording device.
While federal officials have not formally established a motive, FBI Director Kash Patel stated the plot aimed to “capture sensitive communications about the company’s super intelligence technology,” emphasizing that protecting national AI innovation remains a top counterintelligence priority.
OpenAI confirmed Alfozan has been terminated and stated there is currently no evidence that model weights, source code, or customer data were compromised.
An FBI investigation remains ongoing. Alfozan and legal representation could not immediately be reached for comment.
