OpenAI employee arrested over hidden listening device, company says

OpenAI said on Tuesday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had arrested one of its employees in connection with a sophisticated listening device found hidden in one of the company’s offices. The ChatGPT maker had used its internal AI models to identify the individual responsible for planting the device and to trace its origins, it said in an X post. “At this time, we have no indications of this individual inappropriately accessing or exfiltrating model weights, source code, or customer data. The employee was terminated,” according to the AI company. OpenAI personnel discovered the audio recording device inserted into a USB port of a television in an executive conference room inside an OpenAI building in San Francisco, according to a news release from the Justice Department. The device had been concealed in toilet paper and installed “on or about Sept. 28.” It was discovered “on or about Sept. 30,” the Justice Department said. Meetings that occur in the conference room where the device was discovered frequently involved discussions of “highly confidential” and “nonpublic” information, the Justice Department added. OpenAI said its security program is designed to protect against a wide range of threat actors, from insider risks to cybercriminals to nation states and this case is an example of how AI can help address these sophisticated security threats. The company said it referred the matter to the FBI, which is continuing to investigate. The 35-year-old man from Saudi Arabia, Abdulrahman Alfozan, was arrested on Oct. 9 and made his initial appearance in federal court today, the Justice Department said. His employment was also terminated on Oct. 9 after the company took “gradual steps to contain the risk while the investigation continued,” including restricting the employee’s access and placing him on leave, according to OpenAI. Alfozan was hired as an engineer by OpenAI in July 2025, according to the criminal complaint. FBI Director Kash Patel said Alfozan “allegedly concealed a covert recording device inside his employer’s executive conference room to secretly capture sensitive communications about the company’s super intelligence technology.” OpenAI said it has evidence that the employee “intended to deploy other recording devices.” The complaint alleges that Alfozan left a bag unattended in a different room in an OpenAI building on Oct. 5, which “OpenAI security personnel found and opened,” discovering a similar recording device. OpenAI faces scrutiny over security incidents involving its AI systems. Reuters and other media outlets reported recently that the company had told investors its annualized revenue for September was almost $50 billion, a drop from what it signaled earlier. OpenAI said on Friday it fired three researchers after an investigation found they had violated company policies on handling sensitive information. The statement came after the researchers, Jasmine Wang, Tomek Korbak and Mikita Balesni, published a letter detailing the circumstances of their dismissal and arguing that the abrupt firings could create uncertainty among employees and undermine a culture that had allowed researchers to raise safety concerns. Alfozan is scheduled to appear in federal court again on Oct. 19.