The key facts

  • A hidden recording device wrapped in toilet paper was inserted into the USB port of a TV in an executive conference room at OpenAI's San Francisco office.
  • Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi Arabian citizen, was arrested on October 9; the charge is using a device to intercept oral conversations.
  • OpenAI stated it found no signs of improper access to model weights, source code, or customer data.

Discovery of the device and arrest

OpenAI said it notified the FBI after discovering a hidden audio recording device in an executive conference room at its San Francisco office. The find led to the dismissal of an employee. The suspect turned out to be Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old citizen of Saudi Arabia who had worked at the company as an engineer since July 2025. He was arrested on October 9, about a week after the device was discovered, and made his first appearance in a US court on Tuesday, October 14.

The charges and the investigation's version

Alfozan is charged with using or attempting to use an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral conversations. According to the prosecution, the device was wrapped in toilet paper and inserted into the USB port on the back of a TV in the conference room. According to the US Department of Justice, the suspect was repeatedly seen on surveillance camera footage near the conference room on various days before the device was discovered. The Department noted that conversations in that room 'often concerned highly confidential technical, commercial, and strategic information.'

OpenAI's statement and possible punishment

In a statement published on X, OpenAI said: 'We discovered a sophisticated recording device covertly installed in one of our offices. We used our models to figure out what the device was and where it came from, and determined that a specific employee had installed it several days earlier.' The company added that it has 'no data indicating that this individual improperly accessed or removed model weights, source code, or customer data.' If found guilty, Alfozan faces up to five years in prison, a fine of $250,000 (€200,000), and three years of supervised release.

Context

Euronews notes that the charges come against the backdrop of US-China rivalry for leadership in artificial intelligence, which the administration of Donald Trump is seeking to rename 'superintelligence.'