OpenAI said it discovered a “sophisticated recording device” planted in one of its offices by an employee who has since been dismissed and arrested. The employee was identified by the U.S. Department of Justice as 35‑year‑old Saudi national Abdulrahman Alfozan. The device was found on September 30 during a regular sweep of a conference room, the DOJ said.
OpenAI investigation details
The DOJ reported the device was inserted into a USB port on the back of a television screen and was “concealed in toilet paper.” OpenAI determined the device had been in the conference room for about two days before discovery. The company said the device was designed to monitor audio, featured advanced encryption, and included a mechanism for transferring data intended to evade monitoring.
Security camera footage reportedly showed Alfozan accessing the meeting room, where “highly confidential” discussions took place. The DOJ said a backpack belonging to Alfozan contained other similar recording devices, and OpenAI said it has evidence he intended to deploy additional devices throughout its offices. “At this time, we have no indications of this individual inappropriately accessing or exfiltrating model weights, source code, or customer data,” OpenAI said in a statement.
The DOJ said Alfozan used a “productivity tool” to locate information about OpenAI meeting rooms, calendars and the locations of its leadership. Investigators also found that a chatbot associated with Alfozan’s wife had submitted prompts about building an encrypted audio recording device.
Alfozan had been employed as an engineer on the product team since July 2025, the DOJ said. He was arrested on October 9 and remains in federal custody. A LinkedIn page listed under his name showed previous positions including roughly five years as a senior systems engineer at Meta and a role at a company called Nash; the profile also lists attendance at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California, Berkeley, and indicates he is a partner in Raed, a Saudi‑based venture capital firm.
U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian said the protection of U.S. technology companies is “a matter of national security.”
