OpenAI Engineer Arrested for Allegedly Planting Listening Device in Executive Suite

POLICY WIRE — San Francisco, United States — Federal prosecutors have charged a 35-year-old OpenAI engineer with installing a hidden audio recording device inside a company executive conference room. Authorities allege the suspect, Saudi national Abdulrahman Alfozan, intended to intercept confidential discussions regarding the firm’s artificial intelligence developments.

Alfozan, a legal permanent resident of the U.S. since September 2020, joined the AI company in July 2025. He was taken into custody on Friday following the discovery of the device, and he made his initial appearance in a San Francisco federal court on Tuesday to face charges of intercepting oral communications.

The breach was identified on September 30 when staff found a thumb-sized microphone concealed within toilet paper and plugged into a television’s USB port. FBI investigators believe the device was placed there around September 28, though the data stored on it remained encrypted.

OpenAI confirmed the termination of the employee, noting that internal AI models were utilized to trace the device’s origin back to Alfozan. A company spokesperson stated, 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. We referred the matter to the FBI, and we’re grateful to the agents and prosecutors who moved quickly to make an arrest. The FBI’s investigation is ongoing and we will continue to support their work.

The firm clarified that no core technical assets, source code, or customer data were compromised during the incident. However, court filings suggest Alfozan may have planned to place additional listening devices in other sensitive areas of the facility.

Evidence presented in the complaint indicates that Alfozan was spotted on security footage near the conference room on roughly six occasions last month without authorization. Furthermore, prosecutors allege he spent the month leading up to September 16 using internal tools to query meeting schedules and room capacities.

FBI Director Kash Patel stated, “Abdulrahman Alfozan allegedly concealed a covert recording device inside his employer’s executive conference room to secretly capture sensitive communications about the company’s super intelligence technology.” If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

This security breach occurs as OpenAI faces broader internal challenges, including the recent termination of three researchers—Jasmine Wang, Tomek Korbak, and Mikita Balesni—following an internal inquiry. Additionally, reports suggest the company is exploring a potential acquisition of the cybersecurity firm Trail of Bits.

Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)