The FBI has arrested Abdulrahman Alfozan, a Saudi national who worked as an engineer at OpenAI, for allegedly planting a recording device inside the company’s offices. OpenAI said it used its own AI models to analyse the device and trace its origins after discovering it on the premises.
According to the US Department of Justice, Alfozan allegedly intended to “secretly capture sensitive communications” concerning OpenAI’s AI technology. The recording device was reportedly placed inside an executive conference room at the company’s San Francisco office. He was arrested on October 9 and appeared in federal court for the first time on Tuesday.
Alfozan, 35, is a Saudi national and a permanent resident of the US. He joined OpenAI in July 2025. If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison, a fine of $250,000 (approximately Rs 2.37 crore) and three years of supervised release.
OpenAI discovers recording device and uses AI to identify employee
OpenAI said its employees discovered the thumb-sized device on September 30 during a counter-surveillance inspection. The device had been concealed in toilet paper and inserted into a USB port at the back of a television in the conference room. It reportedly contained a microphone, a detachable camera sensor and microSD storage.
After discovering the device, the company said it used its internal AI models to analyse it and determine its origin, which helped identify Alfozan as the suspected person responsible for planting it.
“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,” the company said. OpenAI subsequently alerted the FBI.
Images of the recording device were released following the incident at OpenAI’s San Francisco office.
According to the Justice Department’s statement, the device was installed on or around September 28. However, its contents were encrypted and could not be accessed.
Employee allegedly used an AI chatbot to plan the operation
Investigators allege that Alfozan used a productivity tool to obtain information about OpenAI’s buildings, conference rooms, room capacities, calendars, executive locations and meetings with external partners.
He also allegedly used an AI chatbot account associated with his spouse between September 24 and September 30 to seek information about “building, customizing, installing, audio recording, testing, obfuscating, and remote accessing a device”.
The conference room where the device was allegedly planted was frequently used by OpenAI executives for discussions involving highly confidential matters.
According to the complaint, CCTV footage showed Alfozan near the room on several occasions, even though he was not authorised to enter it or attend meetings there.
On October 5, surveillance footage allegedly captured him entering the conference room and looking behind the television. On the same day, he reportedly left a bag unattended in another room.
OpenAI security personnel searched the bag and discovered his wallet, identification documents and a second encrypted recording device resembling the first one.
Prosecutors said Alfozan later collected the bag from the lost-and-found section and reported that some of his belongings were missing, but did not mention the second recording device.
OpenAI stated that it had found no evidence of data being compromised.
“At this time, we have no indications of this individual inappropriately accessing or exfiltrating model weights, source code, or customer data,” the company said.
Following the incident, OpenAI terminated Alfozan’s employment.
Alfozan is also a venture partner at the investment firm Raed Ventures. According to the company’s website, he previously served as an Engineering Lead at OpenAI, where he worked on AI agents and the data platform.
Before joining OpenAI, he held positions at Meta, Microsoft and SAP. He earned a degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
