Filing: Abdulrahman Alfozan, the OpenAI staffer charged with bugging a conference room, used a Seeed Xiao ESP32-S3 Sense dev board; a website sells it for $14 (Bloomberg)

A Saudi engineer working for OpenAI has been charged with secretly planting a sophisticated recording device in one of the company's California offices, according to federal prosecutors. The device, discovered by OpenAI employees on September 30, was hidden inside a USB port in an executive conference room at the San Francisco office.

OpenAI, the creator of the popular chatbot ChatGPT, stated that they found no evidence that the company's source code, model weights, or customer data were accessed or taken in the incident. The Saudi national, Abdulrahman Alfozan, was employed by OpenAI since July 2025. On September 30, the recording device, which was encrypted, was found in the conference room.

The next day, Alfozan allegedly returned to the office and inspected the device. Prosecutors claim that Alfozan used AI tools and a chatbot to research sensitive locations within the company and learn how to secretly place audio equipment. He is accused of searching the internet for terms like "audio recording, testing, obfuscating, and remote accessing a device," as well as terms related to building and improving the device.

The device was wrapped in toilet paper when it was discovered. On October 5, Alfozan left a bag containing a similar device unattended in another part of the building, which was discovered by security personnel. Alfozan appeared in court on October 12, but it's unclear if he has legal representation. If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.