US judge denies Saudi engineer held in OpenAI case bail

A US federal judge has denied bail for Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old former OpenAI engineer accused of planting a sophisticated recording device in an executive conference room at the company's San Francisco offices. US District Judge Alex Tse ordered Alfozan to be held without bail, ruling that there was a significant risk the defendant would fail to appear in court.

According to a court memorandum reported by Live Mint, federal prosecutors allege Alfozan used AI tools to develop encrypted recording devices and to locate meeting rooms used by OpenAI executives, business partners, and government officials. Investigators also found evidence suggesting he may have planned to install additional devices within the firm's offices.

Prosecutors stated that Alfozan was in frequent contact via WhatsApp with an unnamed member of the Saudi Royal Family, who reportedly urged him to return to the kingdom to participate in an AI initiative. Live Mint reports that Alfozan was planning to leave the US for Riyadh at the time of his arrest on October 9, though he had indicated he would not leave until his stock vested. Hindustan Times - World News confirmed that the arrested Saudi national was in touch with a member of the Saudi Royal Family.

Brief written by urgent.news from Punch, Hindustan Times - World News, Live Mint, Al-Monitor — 4 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.