Employee Arrested After Listening Device Found in OpenAI Conference Room, FBI and the Company Say

OpenAI reported that a sophisticated recording device was discovered in a conference room at one of its San Francisco offices. The company stated it used its own models to understand the device and identify that a specific employee had planted it a few days earlier. According to Guardian Technology, the company has seen no indications that the individual inappropriately accessed or exfiltrated customer data, source code, or model weights.

A 35-year-old Saudi national working as an engineer, identified by SecurityWeek as Abdulrahman Alfozan, was arrested on Friday and terminated by the company. According to DW News, the suspect appeared in court on Tuesday and has been charged with using or endeavoring to use a device to intercept oral communications. A criminal complaint filed in federal court noted the suspect used a tool to inquire about the company's meeting-room capacities, calendars, and building addresses, though it did not specify what the suspect intended to do with any recordings.

The matter was referred to the FBI and a federal investigation is ongoing. CNBC noted that this incident occurs as the maker of ChatGPT faces increased scrutiny regarding its safety practices.

Brief written by urgent.news from SecurityWeek, Guardian Technology, CNBC, DW News, Deutsche Welle Science — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.