OpenAI engineer arrested over alleged hidden recording device in executive conference room

An OpenAI engineer has been arrested on suspicion of hiding an audio recording device in an executive conference room at the company's San Francisco headquarters, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, a Saudi national, was arrested Friday. He is charged with using or attempting to use a device to intercept oral communications. He made his first appearance in federal court Tuesday and remains in custody.

Prosecutors say Alfozan has worked as an engineer at OpenAI since July 2025. OpenAI says he was a member of the product team.

According to the criminal complaint, OpenAI staff found the device on Sept. 30. It was plugged into a USB port on the back of a television in an executive conference room and was hidden in toilet paper. The company determined it was installed around Sept. 28, and its contents were encrypted.

Prosecutors say surveillance footage shows Alfozan near the room on several dates before the discovery. They say he was not authorized to enter the room or attend meetings there. Meetings in that room often involved confidential technical, commercial and strategic information, the complaint says, including proprietary research, product plans and government engagements.

The complaint also alleges that before the device was installed, Alfozan used a productivity tool to ask about OpenAI's building addresses, meeting rooms, room capacities and calendars. It says he also asked where leadership and outside partner meetings took place.

Prosecutors say a chatbot account tied to Alfozan's spouse, which shared identifiers with his own account, sent prompts between Sept. 24 and Sept. 30. The prompts were about building, installing, hiding and remotely accessing a recording device. Prosecutors said the queries included how to "build a continuous audio recorder" and "encrypt the SD card." On Sept. 27 and 28, the account asked about the specific device later found, including its unique MAC address, which is an identifier built into a device's network hardware.

On Oct. 5, the complaint says, Alfozan entered the conference room and appeared to look behind the television. The same day, he allegedly left a bag unattended in a different room. Security staff who opened it found his wallet and ID, along with a second recording device similar to the first.

OpenAI said on X that after finding the device, employees used the company's AI models to work out what it was and where it came from. The company then referred the matter to the FBI. It thanked the agents and prosecutors who "moved quickly to make an arrest."

OpenAI said its technical surveillance countermeasures team found the device during a sweep of a conference room. The company described it as sophisticated and built to avoid detection, with advanced encryption, audio monitoring and a way of moving data that was meant to dodge monitoring. It said investigators used its models to analyze forensic images of the device's storage and assess changes in the underlying data.

OpenAI also said it has evidence that Alfozan intended to place other recording devices in sensitive spaces to secretly record meetings.

The company said it timed his firing with the FBI so the investigation would not be disrupted. He was terminated Friday, the day of his arrest. Between Sept. 30 and then, OpenAI said, it gradually restricted his access to systems and spaces. It then suspended his physical and network access, placed him on leave and secured his company-issued equipment.

FBI Director Kash Patel said protecting U.S. AI innovation is among the bureau's highest counterintelligence priorities. Scott Schelble, special agent in charge of the FBI's San Francisco field office, said the agency is committed to protecting sensitive research and proprietary technology.

If convicted, Alfozan faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, followed by three years of supervised release. The case is being prosecuted by the National Security, Cyber & Special Prosecutions Section of the U.S. attorney's office for the Northern District of California.