Former OpenAI engineer, accused of planting office bug, had ties with Saudi royal family: US prosecutors

A former OpenAI engineer accused of planting a bug in the company’s San Francisco office was in contact with a member of the Saudi royal family who urged him to return to the kingdom and join its artificial intelligence initiative, prosecutors said, as cited by CBS News.Abdulrahman Alfozan, a Saudi national, was arrested on October 9 over allegations that he installed a recording device in a conference room used by OpenAI executives. Prosecutors say he was preparing to leave the United States for Riyadh with his wife and infant son when he was detained.An 11-page court filing accessed by CBS News details WhatsApp exchanges between Alfozan and an unidentified Saudi royal, who allegedly encouraged him to work on an AI initiative in Saudi Arabia.“Saudi needs you more than [sic] the US!” the royal family member allegedly wrote. Prosecutors said Alfozan agreed to the proposal but indicated he would wait until his company stock vested before leaving.Investigators also found photographs of other possible surveillance locations and searches related to meetings between OpenAI executives and Saudi government officials, according to the filing. Prosecutors alleged that Alfozan may have considered placing additional recording devices in the company’s offices and planned to retrieve equipment before leaving the firm.The alleged device was installed on September 28 in a USB port at the back of a television in an executive conference room. Prosecutors said it was designed to store encrypted audio recordings and remained in place for several days.The room was used for meetings involving confidential technical, commercial and strategic information, including discussions with government officials, the filing said. Prosecutors argued that the alleged conduct could pose a national security risk.Alfozan was scheduled to fly from San Francisco to Riyadh on October 12. Prosecutors allege that his wife and three-month-old son left the United States on October 10 on business-class tickets purchased by a Saudi military official.Alfozan joined OpenAI in July 2025 and received an annual salary of $385,000, along with an equity grant worth $2.2 million, according to the filing. He had also been scheduled to take two months of parental leave from October.The former engineer became a US permanent resident in September 2020 and later applied for citizenship. OpenAI dismissed him after his arrest.A judge denied his lawyers’ request to release him to home confinement at a detention hearing on Monday. Prosecutors argued that his financial resources and overseas connections made him a flight risk. Alfozan is due back in court next month.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.