Saudi OpenAI Engineer Arrested by FBI for Planting Covert Recording Device

3-line summary

• The FBI arrested Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, a Saudi national and OpenAI engineer who had worked at the company since July 2025, for allegedly planting a covert audio recording device in an executive boardroom at an OpenAI office in San Francisco, according to the US Department of Justice via Investing.com. OpenAI said it has fired him.
• FBI Director Kash Patel said Alfozan sought to secretly record sensitive conversations about the company's superintelligence technology. According to the complaint, the device was connected to a USB port behind a TV and concealed inside a tissue box; it was planted around September 28 and discovered by OpenAI on September 30.
• OpenAI said it used its own internal AI models to help identify who planted the device. The report separately notes OpenAI fired three researchers in an unrelated matter.

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