FBI charges OpenAI engineer with planting a hidden recorder in an executive meeting room

Federal agents have charged an OpenAI engineer with planting a hidden recorder in a San Francisco executive conference room. Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, a Saudi national, was arrested on Oct. 9 and appeared in court on Tuesday on a count of using a device to intercept oral communications.

What security found

Company staff discovered the first device on or about Sept. 30. Prosecutors say it was stuffed into a USB port on the back of a television and wrapped in toilet paper. OpenAI concluded it had been installed around Sept. 28 and that the files on it were encrypted.

Meetings in that room often cover proprietary research, product plans, business deals and government contacts. Alfozan had worked at the company since July 2025. Security video showed him near the room on several dates even though he had no role in the meetings held there.

Chat prompts and a second device

Before the first device turned up, Alfozan used an internal tool to look up building addresses, meeting rooms, calendars and where executives sat. A chatbot account tied to his spouse, which shared several identifiers with his own account, asked how to build a continuous audio recorder, tweak Wi-Fi, improve live listening and encrypt an SD card. The same account later referenced the device's custom header and MAC address.

On Oct. 5 he walked into the conference room and peered behind the television, according to the complaint. That same day he left a bag in another room. Security opened it and found his wallet, his ID and a second recorder built in the same style.

National security stakes

FBI Director Kash Patel said the complaint paints a picture of someone trying to capture sensitive talk about super-intelligence research. U.S. Attorney Craig H. Missakian for the Northern District of California called the case a matter of national security for Silicon Valley. Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton said the episode shows why protecting American AI work is a priority.

If convicted, Alfozan faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine plus supervised release. The FBI is investigating. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicolas Parker is prosecuting with help from the Justice Department's National Security Division.