OpenAI discovered a "sophisticated recording device" planted by an employee in one of its offices, the company announced Tuesday. The employee, identified by the U.S. Department of Justice as 35-year-old Abdulrahman Alfozan, a Saudi national, has been arrested and dismissed from the company.
The device was found on September 30 during a regular security sweep of a conference room at OpenAI's San Francisco headquarters. According to the Department of Justice, the recording device was inserted into a USB port on the back of a television screen and concealed in toilet paper. OpenAI determined the device had been in the conference room for approximately two days before discovery.
Alfozan had been employed as an engineer on the product team since July 2025, authorities said. He was arrested on October 9 and remains in federal custody. He appeared before a federal judge Tuesday and was charged with using or endeavoring to use a device to intercept oral communications, a federal offense punishable by up to five years in prison.
The conference room where the device was found is used for discussions involving "highly confidential technical, commercial, and strategic information," according to the Department of Justice. OpenAI said it used its artificial intelligence models to analyze the device and trace its origin, identifying that a specific employee had planted it days earlier.
OpenAI stated that the recording device was designed to avoid detection and equipped with complex encryption. The company said it has no evidence at this time that the employee inappropriately accessed model weights, source code, or customer data.
Jay Clayton, the U.S. Director of Intelligence and newly appointed head of the White House's Super Intelligence Force working group on artificial intelligence, issued a statement regarding the case. "This serious matter demonstrates why winning the global race for superintelligence is an imperative of national security," Clayton said. "U.S. intelligence remains mobilized to protect America's cutting-edge intellectual property against foreign threats," he added, without identifying any alleged foreign sponsor in the matter.