SAN FRANCISCO — Abdulrahman Alfozan, an OpenAI engineer, was arrested and charged on Friday with intercepting oral communications by installing a surreptitious audio recording device in an executive conference room. The 35-year-old national of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia faces federal charges for allegedly placing covert surveillance equipment within the American artificial intelligence research organization.

OpenAI personnel discovered a recording device inserted into a USB port on the back of a television in an executive conference room on or about September 30, 2026. The recording device had been concealed in toilet paper and was installed on or about September 28, 2026. Security personnel found a second similar recording device in Alfozan’s unattended bag on or about October 5, 2026.

"According to the complaint unsealed today, Abdulrahman Alfozan 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," FBI Director Kash Patel said. Meetings in the executive conference room frequently involved discussions of highly confidential technical, commercial, and strategic information, including proprietary research, product plans, and business-development opportunities.

Prior to September 28, Alfozan used a productivity tool to make multiple inquiries about OpenAI’s building addresses, meeting rooms, meeting-room capacities and calendars, leadership locations, and external partner meetings. Closed-circuit television footage showed Alfozan appeared near the executive conference room on multiple dates prior to the device’s discovery, although he had no authority to access or participate in meetings occurring there. A chatbot account associated with Alfozan’s spouse submitted prompts between September 24 and September 30 related to building, customizing, installing, audio recording, testing, obfuscating, and remote accessing a device.

Alfozan’s chatbot account and his spouse’s account shared multiple identifiers, including IP addresses and account attributes, suggesting coordinated activity. The device's contents were encrypted. Alfozan had been employed as an engineer by OpenAI since July 2025. Primary source: justice.gov

Alfozan made his initial appearance in federal court on October 13, 2026. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted. "The Bay Area and Silicon Valley lead the world in developing tomorrow’s technology, and our Office will continue to stand at the forefront of protecting that American innovation," U.S. Attorney Craig H. Missakian said.