Ex-OpenAI employee accused of planting device appears to have Saudi backing: court filing

An ex-OpenAI employee accused of planting a recording device in an executive conference room at the AI company appears to have received considerable support from the Saudi government, a court filing showed on Monday.

US prosecutors allege that the defendant, Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, was in frequent communication with an unnamed member of the Saudi Royal family and that a member of the Saudi military paid for a one-way plane ticket for Alfozan's wife and son to return to Saudi Arabia, according to the court document.

Prosecutors made those allegations as they asked a federal judge to keep Alfozan in US custody to await trial, arguing he is a flight risk.


The Saudi government media office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward, writing by Bhargav Acharya; editing by Michelle Nichols )