OpenAI engineer charged over alleged recording device in executive conference room
OpenAI alerted the FBI after discovering what the company described as a "sophisticated recording device" in the conference room
An OpenAI engineer has been federally charged with using or attempting to use a device to intercept oral communications after allegedly planting a concealed recording device in the company's executive conference room, according to prosecutors and the FBI director.
Abdulrahman Alfozan, a Saudi national who joined OpenAI as an engineer in July 2025, allegedly placed the device to obtain information about the company's artificial intelligence products, FBI Director Kash Patel said.
Alfozan "allegedly concealed a covert recording device inside his employer's executive conference room to secretly capture sensitive communications," Patel said.
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OpenAI alerted the FBI after discovering what the company described as a "sophisticated recording device" in the conference room, says the BBC.
The device was installed on 28 September and discovered by OpenAI staff two days later. Prosecutors said it had been inserted into a USB port on the back of a television and wrapped in toilet paper.
Investigators found that Alfozan had allegedly used a "productivity tool" and a "chatbot" to research how to build and conceal covert listening devices.
Prosecutors cited searches relating to "building, customising, installing, audio recording, testing, obfuscating, and remote accessing a device" and queries about how to "'build[ing] a continuous audio recorder,' 'customiz[ing] Wi-Fi . . . connectivity,' 'improv[ing] audio and live listening,' and 'encrypt[ing] the SD card'".
OpenAI said it used its own AI models "to understand the device and where it had come from, identifying that a specific employee had planted it a few days earlier".
On 5 October, CCTV footage captured Alfozan returning to inspect the device in the executive conference room, according to prosecutors.
On the same day, Alfozan allegedly left a bag unattended elsewhere in the building. Security officers opened the bag and found his wallet, identification and a second recording device matching the one discovered in the conference room.
OpenAI terminated Alfozan's employment following the incident. The company said there was no indication that "source code, model weights or customer data were inappropriately accessed or taken in the incident".
Alfozan appeared in court on Tuesday. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
