OpenAI Employee Charged in Recorder Case

Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, a Saudi national and OpenAI product engineer since July 2025, was arrested October 9 after prosecutors alleged he planted a concealed audio recorder in an executive conference room at the company’s San Francisco offices. Security staff found the device September 30 during a regular sweep, inserted in a television USB port and concealed in toilet paper; OpenAI said it had been there about two days. OpenAI fired him, referred the matter to the FBI, and said it has "no indications of this individual inappropriately accessing or exfiltrating model weights, source code, or customer data." The Justice Department cites camera footage of Alfozan in the room, a backpack with similar devices, use of a "productivity tool" to map meeting rooms and leadership locations, and chatbot prompts about building an encrypted audio recorder associated with his wife. FBI Director Kash Patel said he "allegedly concealed a covert recording device inside his employer's executive conference room to secretly capture sensitive communications about the company's super intelligence technology." U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian said "the protection of US technology companies is a matter of national security." Alfozan remains in federal custody as the case proceeds.