Saudi employee arrested for allegedly bugging OpenAI office

United States authorities announced the arrest of Abdulrahman Alfozan, a Saudi national employed by artificial intelligence company OpenAI, following the discovery of a concealed recording device within one of the company's San Francisco offices. OpenAI officials notified federal investigators after their security personnel uncovered the sophisticated device, which was hidden inside the building. The arrest took place on October 9, according to the US Justice Department.

The 35-year-old Saudi engineer, who had been working for OpenAI since July 2025, allegedly inserted a USB device wrapped in toilet paper into a television located in an executive conference room. He was identified through security footage near the conference room on multiple occasions, despite not being authorized to attend meetings there. Alfozan was observed utilizing a productivity tool to gather additional information about OpenAI's office locations, meeting rooms, calendars, schedules, and personnel details.

Furthermore, a chatbot account linked to Alfozan's spouse contained queries about remote audio recording and encrypting memory cards. The intelligence community emphasized the significance of safeguarding the nation's cutting-edge intellectual property from foreign threats, as stated by Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton.

OpenAI emphasized that they have no evidence of the accused accessing or exfiltrating model weights, source code, or customer data. A second device was found by the company's security team when they inspected an unattended bag belonging to Alfozan. Alfozan was subsequently caught on security footage inside the restricted conference room, where he appeared to be looking behind the television where the recording device was concealed.

Alfozan, a former employee of Meta and an AI startup, as well as a venture capital firm, had also attended the University of California at Berkeley and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He faces up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for allegedly intercepting oral communications. His arraignment is scheduled for October 19. In 2022, a former Twitter employee, Ahmad Abouammo, was convicted of spying for Saudi officials seeking to identify critics on the platform.