A 35-year-old Saudi national and OpenAI engineer, Abdulrahman Alfozan, has been arrested and charged by U.S. federal agents for installing a hidden audio recording device in an executive conference room. The U.S. Justice Department stated that Alfozan, who joined the product team in 2025, used the device to intercept oral communications.
The sophisticated, thumb-sized device featured a microphone and the ability to connect to a camera. Prosecutors revealed that the device was wrapped in toilet paper and inserted into a USB port on the back of a television in the executive conference room. OpenAI discovered the device, which was built to evade detection, and used one of its own AI models to analyze the device and determine its origin.
Officials say the installation was an effort to capture sensitive conversations regarding the company's technology, and that Alfozan had planned to secretly record other sensitive spaces. Evidence from chatbot prompts allegedly revealed his efforts to set up the covert listening device days before it was found.
The incident has added to the company's list of privacy concerns following previous hackings by rogue agents. This event occurs as the maker of ChatGPT and its competitors face increased scrutiny over their safety practices.