FBI Arrests OpenAI Engineer Accused of Planting Hidden Recording Device in Conference Room
Federal agents arrested a Saudi citizen employed as an engineering lead at OpenAI, alleging he hid an encrypted listening device behind a television in a San Francisco conference room used for confidential strategy meetings.
The FBI has arrested an OpenAI employee accused of planting a sophisticated hidden recording device inside a San Francisco conference room where executives routinely discussed confidential technical, commercial, and strategic matters, the bureau and the company disclosed Tuesday.
The suspect, identified as Abdurahman Alfozan, 35, a citizen of Saudi Arabia, was taken into federal custody on Oct. 9 and appeared in federal court Tuesday. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and three years of supervised release if convicted. A detention hearing is scheduled for Oct. 19.
According to the FBI, OpenAI's technical surveillance countermeasures team discovered the listening device on Sept. 30 during a sweep of the conference room. The device had been plugged into a USB port on the back of a television and concealed by a small piece of toilet paper. The bureau described it as sophisticated, with advanced encryption, audio monitoring capabilities, and a data-transfer mechanism designed to evade detection.
OpenAI contacted the FBI after the discovery. The company said the conference room was frequently used for discussions involving proprietary research, product plans, business-development opportunities, and nonpublic information about OpenAI's technical progress, strategic decisions, capabilities, priorities, government engagements, and commercial relationships.
Alfozan was an engineering lead who worked on OpenAI's Agents Platform, according to his LinkedIn and X profiles. He previously worked at Meta for five years and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2016 and UC Berkeley in 2025.
The FBI did not arrest Alfozan immediately upon learning of the device, and OpenAI did not fire him until Oct. 9. Between Sept. 30 and Oct. 9, the company worked with the FBI on the timing of his termination so as not to disrupt the investigation. OpenAI said it restricted his access to systems and parts of the office, suspended his network access, placed him on leave, and took his company-issued equipment.
Despite those restrictions, Alfozan allegedly entered the conference room again on Oct. 5 and checked behind the television for the device, which was no longer there. He was captured on closed-circuit television footage inside OpenAI's office, according to the FBI. On or about the same day, he allegedly left an unattended bag in a different room containing his wallet, identification, and another similar recording device. The device pictured in the FBI's release bears the brand Seeed Studio.
A few days before implanting the device, from Sept. 24 to Sept. 30, Alfozan began consulting an unnamed chatbot using his spouse's account about building, installing, and encrypting audio recordings, among other things, the FBI claimed. He also used a productivity tool, presumably internal to OpenAI, to inquire about the company's building addresses, meeting rooms, meeting-room capacities and calendars, and the locations of leadership and executive meetings and external partner meetings, according to the bureau.
It remains unclear what Alfozan planned to do with any data. Neither OpenAI nor the FBI has found evidence that anything leaked. OpenAI said it has no indications that the individual inappropriately accessed or exfiltrated model weights, source code, or customer data. The investigation remains ongoing.
OpenAI said it used its own models to understand the device and identify which employee had planted it, showcasing how its technology can help combat such threats. FBI Director Kash Patel called the incident a matter of national security, saying that protecting American superintelligence is essential to safeguarding the nation's economic strength and that the FBI views that mission as one of its highest counterintelligence priorities.
Alfozan could not be reached for comment. The case highlights growing concerns over insider threats at leading artificial intelligence companies, where proprietary research and strategic plans carry enormous commercial and national-security value.
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