OpenAI Employee Arrested After Secret Recording Device Allegedly Planted In Sensitive Room

A Saudi employee of OpenAI was arrested after allegedly planting a recording device in one of the company's San Francisco offices, the AI firm and federal prosecutors said Tuesday. "We discovered a sophisticated recording device that was hidden inside one of our offices" and "referred the matter to the FBI," OpenAI told AFP in a statement. OpenAI's security team found the device late last month and the employee, Saudi national Abdulrahman Alfozan, was arrested on October 9, the US Justice Department said. Alfozan, a 35-year-old engineer who had worked for OpenAI since July 2025, allegedly wrapped a USB device in toilet paper and inserted it into a television located in an "executive conference room," according to a Justice Department statement. #OpenAI