Hidden recorder, chatbot prompts and an FBI arrest: Inside the OpenAI spying case

OpenAI engineer Abdulrahman Alfozan has been charged with allegedly planting a secret recording device in an executive conference room at the company's San Francisco office, where senior executives regularly discussed confidential research, product plans and business strategy.

The 35-year-old Saudi Arabian national was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on October 9 after OpenAI discovered the device concealed in toilet paper and connected to a USB port behind a television. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the charges on October 13.

OpenAI said it used its own artificial intelligence (AI) models to examine the device and identify the employee allegedly responsible for installing it.


“We used our models to understand the device and where it had come from, identifying that a specific employee had planted it a few days earlier. We referred the matter to the FBI, and we’re grateful to the agents and prosecutors who moved quickly to make an arrest. The FBI’s investigation is ongoing and we will continue to support their work,” the company said on X.

OpenAI has terminated Alfozan's employment. The company also said it had no indication that he had improperly accessed or extracted AI model weights, source code or customer data.

What the investigation found

According to the DOJ, OpenAI employees discovered the recording device on September 30. Investigators believe it was installed around September 28, and the contents stored on it were encrypted.

Also Read: FBI arrests OpenAI engineer over hidden recording device in executive conference room

CCTV footage showed Alfozan near the executive conference room on several occasions before the device was discovered, despite not being authorised to access the room or participate in meetings held there.

The DOJ said the room was frequently used to discuss sensitive technical, commercial and strategic matters, including proprietary research, product development, government engagements and commercial relationships.

On October 5, surveillance footage also captured Alfozan entering the room and appearing to look behind the television where the device had been installed, according to the complaint.

Investigators further alleged that Alfozan had used an internal productivity tool to search for information about OpenAI's office addresses, meeting-room capacities, calendars, executive locations and meetings with external partners before September 28.

Chatbot searches and a second device

The investigation also uncovered chatbot activity that prosecutors believe may be connected to the alleged attempt to record confidential meetings.

Between September 24 and 30, a chatbot account associated with Alfozan's spouse submitted queries about building and customising an audio recording device, connecting it to Wi-Fi, improving live listening capabilities, encrypting an SD card and accessing recordings remotely.

The DOJ said the account shared several identifiers and attributes with Alfozan's own chatbot account.

“The same chatbot account also submitted prompts specifically related to Recording Device 1, including its custom header and unique MAC address, between Sept. 27 and Sept. 28,” the DOJ said.

A MAC address is a unique identifier associated with a network-connected device.

Investigators also found a second recording device on October 5, after Alfozan allegedly left a bag unattended in another room at OpenAI's office. Security personnel opened the bag and discovered a device similar to the one found behind the television, along with his wallet and identification.

Also Read: OpenAI employee who left for Apple took files about unreleased device, OpenAI alleges

Alfozan has been charged with using or attempting to use an electronic device to intercept oral communications. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.

“Protecting American SI innovation is essential to safeguarding our nation’s economic strength and national security, and the FBI views that mission as one of our highest counterintelligence priorities,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in the DOJ release. The FBI investigation remains ongoing.

Who is Abdulrahman Alfozan?

According to the DOJ, Alfozan joined OpenAI as an engineer in July 2025. His LinkedIn profile, however, lists him as an engineering lead for the company's AI Agent Platform since September 2025.

In the same month, he also became a venture partner at Riyadh-based RAED Ventures, after spending nearly three years as a founding engineer at AI-native logistics startup Nash.

Before Nash, Alfozan worked at Meta as a senior systems engineer between 2017 and 2022, where he contributed to the company's data infrastructure, according to his LinkedIn profile.

He studied computer science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology between 2011 and 2016, before pursuing a master's degree in data science at the University of California, Berkeley, from 2023 to 2025.