Saudi man arrested over hidden recorder at OpenAI office

Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi national and engineer at OpenAI, has been arrested and charged with allegedly planting a sophisticated recording device in a San Francisco executive conference room. According to Mashable, Alfozan was arrested by the FBI on October 9. Prosecutors allege the device, which was wrapped in toilet paper, was inserted into a USB port on the back of a television set to capture sensitive communications.

The device was discovered by security personnel on either September 30, as reported by Gulf News, or a few days after its September 28 installation, according to Mashable. OpenAI stated it used its own AI models to help understand the device and its origin. While the company noted the device's contents were encrypted, KahawaTungu reported that OpenAI has no indication that customer data, model weights, or source code were inappropriately accessed or taken.

Gulf News reports that the room where the device was found is used for confidential discussions regarding OpenAI’s business plans, products, and research. Investigators noted that Alfozan was not authorized to access the room or attend meetings held there. Additionally, a criminal complaint alleges Alfozan used a productivity tool to search for information regarding office buildings and executive meeting schedules.

Brief written by urgent.news from Punch Nigeria, Mashable, Gulf News, KahawaTungu, Quartz — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.