An OpenAI engineer was arrested for allegedly installing hidden recording devices in the office, and the company stated that AI assisted in the identification

According to Decrypt, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested OpenAI engineer Abdulrahman Alfozan on October 9. The suspect, 35 years old and of Saudi nationality, has been employed at OpenAI since July 2025 and is accused of using or attempting to use devices to intercept oral communications. He made his first appearance in federal court this Tuesday. OpenAI stated that it has referred the matter to the FBI and thanked the relevant agents and prosecutors for their swift action, while the FBI's investigation is ongoing.

OpenAI released a statement on X, stating that the company discovered a sophisticated recording device hidden in the office and used its own model to analyze the device and its origin, ultimately identifying that an employee placed it there a few days prior. According to the criminal complaint, the device was discovered around September 30, plugged into a USB port on the back of a television, wrapped in paper towels, with its contents encrypted, and was installed around September 28. Surveillance footage showed that Alfozan was seen near the conference room multiple times before the device was discovered, but he had neither the authority to enter that room nor to attend the related meetings, which typically involved confidential technical and strategic information.

The complaint states that before the device was installed, Alfozan used internal productivity tools to inquire about OpenAI's office building address, conference rooms, room capacities, schedules, and locations of meetings between executives and external partners. A chatbot account associated with his spouse asked between September 24 and 30 how to create a continuous recording device, add Wi-Fi connectivity, enhance real-time listening capabilities, and encrypt the device's SD card.