Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi national working as an engineer at OpenAI, appeared in federal court this week following his arrest by the FBI on charges related to intercepting oral communications. Alfozan is accused of attempting to plant concealed recording devices in a company meeting room.
According to court documents, Alfozan used artificial intelligence tools to gather information about meeting room availability and access between August and September. The complaint states he queried a productivity assistant about external partner meetings and room schedules, then later used a chatbot to seek instructions on building and installing a recording device with remote access capabilities. On 30 September, OpenAI staff discovered a recording device wrapped in toilet paper behind a television in a conference room regularly used for discussions involving highly confidential technical, commercial, and strategic information. Alfozan had no authorization to access meetings held in that location.
Security footage documented Alfozan near the conference room on eight separate occasions in September. Following discovery of the device, a camera was installed in the room. On 5 October, he was recorded entering the space and appearing to inspect the area behind the television. Later that same day, he allegedly left an unattended bag in another room containing a second recording device similar to the first, along with his wallet and identification.
Alfozan had been employed by OpenAI since July 2025 and held legal permanent resident status since 2020. His employment contract has been terminated. OpenAI stated it used its own AI models to analyze the device and reported no evidence of unauthorized access to model weights, source code, or customer data. Alfozan’s attorney stated the allegations are out of character and emphasized his presumption of innocence. A detention hearing is scheduled to determine custody status during ongoing proceedings. If convicted, he faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
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